26th Southern Conservation Tillage Conference TILLAGE AND N-FERTILIZER SOURCE EFFECTS ON COTTON FIBER QUALITY

Cotton lint yield along with fiber quality determines the value of the crop to growers since tests of fiber are a key consideration in sales of cotton to processing plants. Most cotton research has focused on impacts of genetic, environmental, and management factors on production and yield. More research is needed to describe the impact of these variables on cotton fiber quality. We analyzed two years of fiber quality data from a cotton-rye cropping system under a factorial set of tillage and fertilizer treatments (conventional till, no-till, conventional fertilizer, and poultry litter). Cotton fiber fineness, strength, length, uniformity index, and the 2.5 % and 50 % span lengths were measured partially using high volume instrumentation equipment. The data were classified and used in evaluating cotton quality according to industry standards. Categorical analysis showed that the production treatments impacted fiber quality. Fiber quality variation occurred over narrow ranges and differences were generally small. We found from our data that shifts had occurred from one class to another as a result of production treatments. These shifts may impact the economics of cotton production