Cotton

Soils And Climate


Soils Climate


Soils

  • Cotton is grown on a variety of soils across the world. Deep, fertile soil with adequate humus and high water holding capacity and good internal drainage is best suited for growing cotton.
  • Cotton is sensitive to excessive moisture and water logging.



  • Under rainfed conditions, it is generally grown on soils with high water holding capacity provide better internal drainage and greater productivity. Where irrigation is available it is cultivated on a variety of soils ranging from sandy to sandy loam and clay looms. Cotton being a deep-rooted crop, soil depth of less than 60 cm is considered unfavourable. Cotton grows best on neutral to slightly alkaline soils and a pH of 7.0 to 8.0 is considered optimum. The minimum pH for successful cotton cultivation is 5.3. Cotton is sensitive to salinity only during germination and early crop establishment.
  • Established crop is extremely tolerant to salinity with a threshold E.C. of 7.7 ds/m and 50 per cent yield reduction at 17.7 ds/m E.C.
  • The predominant cotton growing soils of India are sandy to sandy looms (Entisols and Inceptisols) in the north zone, black soils (vertisols) in central India and in a variety of red (Alfisols), alluvial (inceptisols) and mixed red and black soil in the southern zone.

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Climate

Temperature

  • Cotton can be grown in places wherever, at least 180-200 frost free days are available.
  • Optimum temperature for germination 20-300C. Germination will be delayed if the temperature is <180C.

  • For vegetative growth, mean daily temperature of 21-27oC is optimum. Day temperatures ranging from 27-32oC with cool nights favour fruiting & boll development. The growth of cotton plant and fibre development is seriously limited when the minimum temperature falls below 15oC. Optimum temperature for peak flowering ranges from 29-34oC. Under adequate soil moisture, cotton withstand high temperatures of 43-45oC for short periods.

Rainfall

  • Cotton being a tropical plant of arid origin requires atleast or 500 mm of mean annual rainfall with uniform distribution. During the vegetative phase, moderate rainfall is good where as in later stages heavy rains will affect the quality of cotton.
  • Rains at night and light in daytime is congenial for its growth. Heavy rains or moisture stress during flowering and fruiting accentuates bud and boll shedding. High air humidity causes infection of fungus. Dry period during ripening and boll bursting phases ensures good quality lint.

Light and photoperiod

  • Abundant sunshine is ideal for cotton production and cloudiness adversely affects boll setting and growth. Cloudy weather lasting 2 to 8 days cause heavy bud and boll shedding. Cotton, exhibits day neutralism. Decrease in light decreases growth and fruiting and increases anthocyanin content in leaf resulting in low photosynthetic efficiency.
  • The climatic conditions in the cotton growing regions of India show considerable variations. High temperature of about 45oC during sowing and seeding emergence and low temperature accompanied by occasional frost coinciding with the picking period and moderate rainfall ranging from 300-700 mm are the features of the north zone. In the Southern and Central zones, the climate is equal.
  • The maximum temperature ranges from 32 – 40oC and the minimum temperature from 10 – 20oC. Rainfall ranges from 500-1250 mm, predominantly through the southwest monsoon from June to September.

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Karnataka

Cotton

Cotton Management