Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T22:40:43.075Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effects of sowing date, nitrogenous fertilizer and insect pest control on cotton yield and its year-to-year variation in the Sudan Gezira

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

H. O. Burhan
Affiliation:
Gezira Research Station, Wad Medani, Sudan
J. E. Jackson
Affiliation:
Gezira Research Station, Wad Medani, Sudan

Summary

Variation of cotton yields from year to year has been a major problem in the Sudan Gezira for a long time. Previous studies indicated involvement of pest attack, soil nitrogen levels and lengths of growing season in this and suggested that adequate control of these factorswould lead to consistently high yields. Factorial experiments to test this hypothesis, comparing plots sown in early or late August, with or without frequent insecticide spraying and with orwithout nitrogenous fertilizer were therefore carried out at each of five sites in the Sudan Gezira and the first five years’ results are presented.

There were large, positive responses to nitrogen, spraying and early sowing at all sites. Nitrogen and spraying interacted positively, i.e. the response to nitrogen was much greater on sprayed plots and the response to spraying much greater on fertilized plots. Where plots were sprayed, early sowing also increased the response to nitrogen.

Treatment responses varied from year to year in such a way that the optimum combination resulted not only in much higher average yields but also in greatly improved stability of yield from year to year. The average yields, and the response to nitrogen on sprayed plots, were up to the levels which previous regression studies had estimated would be obtained in the absence of serious pest attack and were similar to peak yields in earlier years. During the course of theseexperiments commercial crop practice has changed towards earlier sowing, heavier nitrogen dressing and more frequent spraying, with apparently beneficial effects on yield and consistency of cropping.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1973

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Andrews, F. W. (1936). Investigations on black-arm disease of cotton under field conditions. I. The relation of the incidence and spread of black-arm disease of cottonto cultural conditions and rainfall in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Emp.J. exp. Agric. pp. 344–56.Google Scholar
Buehan, H. O. (1969). Factors involved in the fluctuation of cotton yields in the Gezira. Sudan Agric. J. 4, (1).Google Scholar
Bubhan, H. O. (1971). Response of cotton to levels of fertilizer nitrogen in the Sudan Gezira. Emp. Cott. Grow. Rev. 48, 116–24.Google Scholar
Bubhan, H. O. & Mansi, M. G. (1967). Rotation responses of cotton in the Sudan Gezira. I. The effect of crop rotation on cotton yields. J. agric. Sci., Comb. 68, 255–61.Google Scholar
Cochban, W. G. & Cox, G. M. (1968). Experimental Designs, pp. 155–6. Wiley.Google Scholar
Hussein, M. H. (1970). Progress in chemical control of pests of cotton in the Gezira. In Growth of Cotton in the Gezira Environment (ed. Siddig, M. A. and Hughes, L. C.), pp. 232–46. Agricultural Research Corporation of Sudan. Cambridge: Heffer.Google Scholar
Jackson, J. E. (1964). Between season variation in yield in relation to pest attack in the Sudan Gezira. Proc. 12th Int. Congr. Ent., London, pp. 612–13.Google Scholar
Jackson, J. E. (1969 a). Cotton crop environment, growth and yield in the Sudan Gezira. I. The Gezira observation plots; experimental design, cultural methods and yield analysis. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 72, 159–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, J. E. (1969 b). Cotton crop environment, growth and yield in the Sudan Gezira. II. The causes of variation in yield from year to year. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 72, 169–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, J. E. & Bubhan, H. O. (1965). Proposed programme for investigation of variation in cotton yields in the Gezira. Misc. pap. Agric. Res. Div. (Sudan), no. 85.Google Scholar
Jackson, J. E. & Bubhan, H. O. (1968). Rotation responses of cotton in the Sudan Gezira. II. The effect of fertilizer nitrogen on the responses to rotation. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 70, 257–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, J. E., Razoux, L. & Faulkneb, R. C. (1965). Effect of jassid attack on cotton yield and quality in the Sudan Gezira. Emp. Cott. Grow. Rev. 42, 295–9.Google Scholar
Jackson, J. E., Faulknee, R. C. & Razotjx, L. (1967). Studies on the sowing dates of cotton in the Sudan Gezira. III. The effect of sowing date on yield and quality under different fertilizer and spraying treatments. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 69, 329–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joyce, R. J. V. (19591960). The yield response of cotton in the Sudan Gezira to DDT spray. Bull. ent. Res. 50, 577–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pboctob, J. H. & Tigani El, Amin (1963). Ann. Rep. Gez. Agric. Res. Stn Sudan, 1962–1963.Google Scholar
Pboctor, J. H. & Tigani El, Amin (1964). Ann. Rep. Gez. Agric. Res. Stn Sudan, 1963–1964.Google Scholar
Toms, A. M. (1959). Some recent trends in cotton yields in the Sudan Gezira. Emp. Cott. Grow. Rev. 36, 511.Google Scholar