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CSD: new cotton generation flourishes in tough season
02 Aug '06
2 min read
A survey of one of the new generation of Australian-bred cotton variety's performance under challenging seasonal conditions suggests that Australian growers should be optimistic about its performance in the season ahead.
Cotton Seed Distributors Ltd (CSD) agronomist in the Border Rivers region, David Kelly, said the 2005-06 season was tough for growers and consultants, particularly in the western regions such as the St George, Mungindi, Bourke and Dirranbandi areas, where temperatures reached record levels.
“However, the performance of the new CSIRO-bred cotton varieties Sicot 71B, which was grown under a limited release regime, produced an attractive combination of yields and fibre quality attributes.
“Our survey of growers who grew Sicot 71B commercially, under limited release, combined with the results of 14 large-scale replicated variety trials across the industry, produced an average yield of 10 bales per hectare, which is a phenomenal result given the extreme temperatures and the management difficulties associated with this.
“In a season when high micronaire was a big issue, Sicot 71B made base micronaire in all of our trials and only 5 per cent of growers who completed our survey had a small proportion of bales with high micronaire. This is due to the inherently finer fibre of this variety which is attractive to cotton's end users.
“The variety also has excellent staple length with all growers who provided commercial information on their Sicot 71B making base staple and averaging 37 32nds of an inch. The same result was achieved in the variety trial program,” he said.
David Kelly said Sicot 71B is fully available in the 2006-07 season and with the intense pressure to achieve both high yields and excellent fibre quality, it is shaping up to be a popular choice for growers across all regions.
Geoff Brownlie, 'Ridgeview', Mungindi, one of the growers who took part in the survey, was declared the winner of a competition that was conducted among survey respondents, winning 1200kg of Sicot 71B seed donated by CSD.
Cotton Seed Distributors Ltd (CSD) agronomist in the Border Rivers region, David Kelly, said the 2005-06 season was tough for growers and consultants, particularly in the western regions such as the St George, Mungindi, Bourke and Dirranbandi areas, where temperatures reached record levels.
“However, the performance of the new CSIRO-bred cotton varieties Sicot 71B, which was grown under a limited release regime, produced an attractive combination of yields and fibre quality attributes.
“Our survey of growers who grew Sicot 71B commercially, under limited release, combined with the results of 14 large-scale replicated variety trials across the industry, produced an average yield of 10 bales per hectare, which is a phenomenal result given the extreme temperatures and the management difficulties associated with this.
“In a season when high micronaire was a big issue, Sicot 71B made base micronaire in all of our trials and only 5 per cent of growers who completed our survey had a small proportion of bales with high micronaire. This is due to the inherently finer fibre of this variety which is attractive to cotton's end users.
“The variety also has excellent staple length with all growers who provided commercial information on their Sicot 71B making base staple and averaging 37 32nds of an inch. The same result was achieved in the variety trial program,” he said.
David Kelly said Sicot 71B is fully available in the 2006-07 season and with the intense pressure to achieve both high yields and excellent fibre quality, it is shaping up to be a popular choice for growers across all regions.
Geoff Brownlie, 'Ridgeview', Mungindi, one of the growers who took part in the survey, was declared the winner of a competition that was conducted among survey respondents, winning 1200kg of Sicot 71B seed donated by CSD.
Cotton Seed Distributors Ltd
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