Response of Cotton Varieties to Transplanting Technique under Drip Irrigation System and Iraqi Conditions

Abstract

The low average cotton yield per unit area in Iraq during the long growth season invites us to look for possible means to increase the yield by looking for new ideas in agriculture to improve production. Important results were obtained through two field experiments applied to the cotton crop during the period from January 1 to October 16, 2017, in the new Baquba nursery affiliated to the Directorate of Agriculture in Diyala Governorate within the cotton development project in Iraq. There have been a number of attempts by a number of Iraqi researchers - over the previous years - focused on how to raise the yield of cotton fibers by the unit area and also during the season, especially if there is a desire of farmers to use the same land to planting a winter crop, but we did not see practical achievements in this regard, which led us to use modern ideas to improve crop production and achieve planting winter crop after it. Planting the seeds inside the greenhouse for the purpose of producing seedlings and then transferred to the field on time rather than planting seeds directly in the field, Has had a positive effect on exceeding temperatures unsuitable for seed germination, growth and early access to the first harvest. It was positively reflected in increase hair cotton yield, with an average of 2.24, 2.69 and 2.81 tons. ha⁻¹ for varieties Koker, Lashata and Ashore, compared to the traditional cultivation method, which recorded 0.63, 0.68 and 0.80 tons. h⁻¹, with an increase of 255.6, 295.6 and 251.3% for the three varieties, respectively and the increase in the number of harvesters during the season to four harvesters (July, August, September and October) compared to the traditional method, which registered only three during the season (August, September and October) as well as the possibility of relying on three harvests when planting with the seedling technique (July, August and September) while achieving the cultivation of a winter crop after the cotton crop, such as wheat, to provide sufficient time for soil service operations such as plowing, softening, leveling, weed control and others. We conclude from the current study that use of the transplanting technique has preserved three harvests with a high yield that appeared clearly since the first harvest, as the date of the third harvest was on September 13, and therefore the aim of cultivating a winter crop after cotton has been achieved to provide sufficient time to conduct soil servicing operations for the crop.