2009 ON-FARM COTTON VARIETY TRIALS AND DEMONSTRATIONS IN SOUTHEAST ALABAMA
Dillard *, B.A.1; Birdsong, W.C.21Extension Agronomist, Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Geneva, AL, 36340
2Extension Cotton Specialist, Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Headland, AL, 36345
Abstract:
In 2010, very few farmers will have access to Deltapine 555 cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) seed due to the EPA’s phase out plan of bollgard (crystal protein 1Ac from Bacillus thuringiensis), a biotechnology that revolutionized insect control in the cotton belt. Deltapine 555 has been the dominant variety in the south for half of a decade, with the majority of Alabama’s acreage being in this one variety. Knowing that this variety was not going to be an option for most farmers in 2010 and no farmers in 2011, we decided to place five replicated on-farm variety trials and two single strip demonstrations in southeast Alabama during the 2009 crop year. From these results, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System has been able to more assertively recommend varieties that producers may have other wise been afraid to try in their operation. By placing numerous locations throughout the Wiregrass region, farmers have the option of analyzing the results closest to them or the overall averages of the tests. This will lead them to a variety that they can feel content fits their operation. On farm research allows producers to see a variety’s potential superior and inferior qualities, as well as its uniformity across varying field conditions. Most farmers comment that this research gives them a better summary than small plot variety research. By conducting these trials, we hope that farmers are able to make more educated decisions when choosing their varieties. Contributing seed companies include: Deltapine, FiberMax, Stoneville, Phytogen, and Dyna-Gro.