Development and Growth: Influence of Sowing Dates on Performance of Cotton Cultivars

Moreover, foreign exchange earnings and support about 1.5 million rural economies (Hussain et al., 2010;Ahmad et al., 2009).Cotton crop share in value addition is 5.1 % and in gross domestic production is 1.0% (GoP, 2015-16).Recent economic importance of cotton is 2.917 million hectares' areas with total production and average yield are 10.074 million bales and 587 kg per hectare, respectively (GoP, 2015-16).Abstract | Agriculture has a principal impact on Pakistan's economy since its existence.The cotton crop is considered the backbone of agriculture and research are mandatory to augment its production.Indigenous cultivars have an impressive production potential while climatic sowing dates fluctuation during crop planting is the leading hindrance in its production.Therefore, this one-year field experiment was performed to assess the result of varying cultivars and sowing dates on developmental and allometric traits of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) under the agro-ecological conditions at Sargodha, Punjab, during Kharif season, 2015.The study consisted of i) three cultivars viz.Bt.FH-142, Bt.MNH-886 and FDH-170 and ii) three sowing dates viz.21 st April, 5 th May and 20 th May.Cultivars and sowing dates improved developmental and allometric traits of cotton in the study year.Significantly, 21 st April cotton sowing observed maximum days taken from planting to first flower and boll opening, fruiting branch and branch height (65.02), (112.56),(10.02) and (26.43 cm) in FDH-170, respectively while boll maturation (48.05) was noted in Bt.MNH886.Sowing date 5 th May plot recorded more leaf area index and net assimilation rate in FDH-170 (4.45 and 3.87 g m -2 day - 1 ) while leaf area duration and crop growth rate in Bt.FH-142 (282.32 and 6.67 g m -2 day -1 ), respectively.Significantly, higher TDM production was recorded on 21 st April in Bt.FH-142 (1104.33 g m -2 ).Therefore, cotton should be grown among after 15 th April to before 10 th May with cultivars FHD-170, Bt.FH-142 and Bt.MNH-886 respectively under semi-arid conditions of Pakistan.