Impact of defoliants on yield, fibre quality and economics in cotton

S. R. KAREEKATTI; U. K. SHANWAD

doi:10.61475/JFS.2025.v38i4.28

S. R. KAREEKATTI Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agricultural Science, Dharwad - 580 005, India
U. K. SHANWAD Department of Agronomy, Agril. Research Station, Dharwad University of Agricultural Science, Dharwad - 580 005, India

DOI: https://doi.org/10.61475/JFS.2025.v38i4.28

Keywords: Boll opening percentage, Defoliants, Etherel, etc, Seed cotton yield

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of chemical defoliation on growth parameters, seed cotton yield and fibre quallity of cotton under high density planting during kharif, 2023. Defoliation with Etherel @ 3000 ppm+Sodium chlorate @ 0.9% at 50 boll opening percentage resulted in higher number of bolls per square mt. and boll weight(gm.) and seed cotton yield (1375.67kg ha-1). Etherel @ 3000 ppm +Sodium chlorate @ 0.9% at 50 boll opening percentagerecorded significantly higher leaf defoliation (98.33%) after 10 days after spray and was superior over other defoliants tried. In all the treatments net returns (`/ha) was maximum in T10-T3+Diuron@400 ppm (`89492) which is as par with T3Thidiazuron @500 ppm (`86498).