Impact of Climatic Behavior on Cotton Fibre Traits

Abstract

Temperature plays a critical and complicated role in the growth and development of cotton. Fibre development consists of fibre elongation, secondary wall synthesis and boll maturation. This 3 years’ study was conducted from 2008 to 2010 at Central Cotton Research Institute, Multan to investigate the affect of environmental factors and flowering dates on fibre properties. Two Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) cultivars used in this study were CIM-554 and CIM-557. For each cultivar, 200 white flowers (blooms at anthesis) were tagged after 7-days interval throughout the growing season. In every year, the tagging was initiated from 2nd week of August and continued up to 3rd week of September. The cotton bolls were picked at maturity and seed cotton was ginned at miniature saw ginning machine. Significant interactions among flowering date, year and variety were detected. Negative correlations of fibre properties with flowering dates were observed.