Changes in within-boll yield components explain cotton yield and quality variation across planting dates under a double cropping system of cotton-wheat

作者：棉花生物育种与综合利用全国重点实验室 日期：2023-10-20 访问量：

Simeng Guo, Taijie Liu, Yingchun Han, Guoping Wang, Wenli Du, Fengqi Wu, Yabing Li, Lu Feng

Field Crops Research

Doi:10.1016/j.fcr.2023.108853Get rights and content

Abstract：

Context: Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) yield is determined by whole-plant and within-boll yield components.Little information exists regarding within-boll yield component variations related to the planting date.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate whether the differences in within-boll yield components will largelyexplain yield variation across planting dates under a double cropping system of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) andshort-season cotton.

Methods: Two contemporary cotton cultivars were grown in the field with four different planting dates (PD_MAY10,PD_MAY20, PD_MAY30 and PD_JUN10) for the 2019–2021 growing seasons. Climatic variables and cotton growth periods, plant mapping, extensive yield components and fiber quality assessments were recorded each year.

Results: Compared to PD_MAY10, the lint yields of PD_MAY20, PD_MAY30 and PD_JUN10 were reduced by 3.8%, 14.7%and 44.1%, respectively. The significant yield loss in PD_JUN10 could be explained by the variations in yieldcomponents. At the canopy level, boll density was the greatest contributor (75.6–90.8%) to yield loss. Moreover,within bolls, lint mass per seed (11.2–18.2%) and lint mass per unit seed surface area (11.9–16.2%) accountedfor the most yield loss. In addition, seed number per boll, lint mass per seed and lint mass per unit seed surfacearea decreased by 1.0–6.2%, 7.3–15.0% and 5.5–13.4% for PD_JUN10 relative to PD_MAY20, PD_MAY30 and PD_JUN10,respectively. The number of fibers per seed and the seed index remained relatively stable among the plantingdates across all three years. No significant differences in fiber length and fiber strength were observed amongplanting dates in 2019 and 2020, while shorter and weaker fibers were observed for the earliest planting date in2021, possibly because of extreme rainfall that occurred at the end of July, indicating that a deterioratedenvironment could reduce the effect of the planting date. Among all climatic variables, the daily maximumtemperature during the flowering and boll development stage had the strongest correlation with the lint yield.

Conclusions: The first three planting dates generally produced comparable lint yields and fiber qualities.Therefore, it might be important to plant short-season cotton before May 30th in the Yellow River Valley tomaintain relatively high yield and fiber quality.

Implications: This study provided new results to assist decision making regarding cotton planting date in doublecropping of wheat and cotton in the Yellow River Valley.