COTTON YIELD RESPONSE TO TILLAGE-POULTRY LITTER INTERACTIONS IN THE SOUTHERN PIEDMONT

Abstract. Cotton (Gossipium hirsutum L.) is a major crop in Georgia and is mostly grown under conventional-tillage with conventional inorganic fertilizers, such as ammonium nitrate. But reduced tillage is drawing increased attention nationwide as a viable production option. A growing poultry industry in Georgia is generating increased quantities of poultry litter, some of which can be used as an alternative organic fertilizer in crop production. This research was conducted to observe the performance and yield response of cotton planted with no-tillage and fertilized with poultry litter. Research was conducted for three years under a factorial arrangement of tillage (no-tillage vs conventional-tillage) and fertilizer (ammonium nitrate vs poultry litter) on a Cecil soil of Southern Piedmont near Watkinsville, GA. Lint yield from the no-tillage treatment exceeded that of conventional-tillage by about 30 % (P=0.009) over three years. Yield from no-tillage, poultry litter-fertilized cotton exceeded that of conventional-tillage, ammonium nitrate-fertilized cotton by almost 50 percent (P=0.005). Cotton production in the Southern Piedmont could be improved by using no-tillage and poultry litter as fertilizer compared to conventional-tillage and ammonium nitrate as fertilizer