Rain Water Management through Different Agro-techniques for Improving Quality and Production of Cotton

Field experiment was conducted for three years from 2004 to 2006 on deep black soil of Main Cotton Research Station, Navsari Agricultural University, Surat on rain water management through different agro-techniques for improving quality and production of cotton. Results revealed that growth attributing characters were significantly influenced by different rain water management techniques. Opening of alternate furrow (sole crop) after last inter-culturing resulted in significantly higher plant height, dry matter accumulation/plant and leaf area compared to the rainfed control. Intercropping did not have significant effect on growth attributing characters except plant height. Significantly higher seed cotton yield (1649 kg ha⁻¹) and cotton equivalent yield (2101 kg ha⁻¹) was recorded under opening of alternate furrow (sole crop) after last inter culturing (T₃) and intercrop of two rows of black gram in cotton (T₇), respectively, and it was 35.8 and 73.1 per cent higher over rainfed control. Quality parameters did not alter significantly due to different rain water management agro-techniques.