P4121

2024 Mississippi On-Farm Cotton Variety Trials

The cotton variety selection process is often difficult and, in many cases, leaves growers wondering for the remainder of the growing season whether they made the right variety selection decisions. Furthermore, the rapid introduction of new varieties and discontinued production of “older” varieties has become commonplace over the past several years. Historically, a premier variety would remain in the marketplace for a long period of time. However, a variety that performs well today typically has a life span of four to six years. One that does not perform well will likely remain on the market for less than three years. In addition, the historical standard for variety testing information was to have two to three years of data prior to release of any given variety. Today, one to two years of “broad scale” variety testing is common prior to release of a new variety. Therefore, greater demand has been placed upon testing a variety in as many environments as possible as a substitute for multiple years of data. In most cases, variety testing prior to release is conducted by private industry through a series of testing methods and through University Official Variety Trial (OVT) programs. OVT data is typically available for one year prior to release of a given variety. 

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Publication 4121 (POD-06-25)

By Brian K. Pieralisi, PhD, Assistant Professor, William J. Rutland, Extension Associate II, and Luke C. Noah, Extension Associate I, Plant and Soil Sciences.