Successful cotton harvest practices are largely dependent upon the use of harvest aid chemicals. Application of harvest aid materials terminates crop development and facilitates harvest scheduling. While these are advantageous to the producer, very little uniform information is available about the ultimate effect of these materials on fiber quality. In light of premiums and discounts for fiber quality brought about by the introduction of High Volume Instrumentation (HVI), proper choice of harvest aid chemicals is of paramount importance. Additionally, crop responses after application of these materials are often not consistent. Improper choice of harvest aid material, or harvest aid failure, confounds the impact of the treatment on fiber quality. A coordinated uniform effort to define the most appropriate conditions for ideal defoliation and crop termination is needed.

The objective of this uniform beltwide project is to develop effective, contemporary harvest aid recommendations that contribute to harvest efficiency and high quality fiber; specifically by evaluating performance of standard defoliation treatments on a uniform basis and relating this performance to biotic and environmental factors.