Crop rotation systems using cotton-grain sorghum and cotton-corn were studied. Influence of grain sorghum in various cropping schemes with short-season cotton cultivars was evaluated under the dryland farming conditions of South Texas. Additional tests with cotton-corn were also conducted. Lint yield and fiber properties were measured over periods of six and four years, respectively, on a typical Victoria clay soil used in cotton production. Soil chemical properties that were monitored included soil water, organic matter, aqueous-phase soil nitrates, extractable phosphorus and exchangeable cations. Data indicate lint yields were highly variable with rainfall distribution and to a lesser degree with cropping systems. When rainfall became limiting, cotton following grain sorghum produced the most lint. Fiber properties generally were not affected by cropping systems. Although soil chemical properties such as nitrates were changed substantially by crop rotations, treatment differences in soil moisture became an overriding factor and prevented larger differences in lint yields as a result of soil chemical changes. Cotton following cotton had lower soil moisture readings and became moisture stressed earlier that cotton following grain sorghum.