Effect of height of pruning on herbaceous cotton ratoon production in the humid valleys in northeast of Brazil

Abstract

Two experiments were carried out during the years of 1980 and 1981, in the Rio Piranhas Valley, in Paraíba, Brazil, and a third one, in 1982, in the Central "Sertão" of Ceará, Brazil, in order to study the effect of height of pruning on anuual cotton ratoon (Gossypium hirsutum, var. latifolium L.). The results showed that pruning at 10 cm - 20 cm from the soil, in the Sertão of Paraíba, was the best treatment, increasing yield by 17% at São Bento, PB, and by 14% at Riacho dos Cavalos, PB, in relation to control (no pruning). The less drastic pruning modalities were the best treatments for the conditions of the central Sertão of Ceará. Cotton fruit and fiber characteristics were not affected by the treatments.