Effects of Foliar Sulfur Applications on the Quality of Cotton Plant Fibre Under Water Stress Conditions

Abstract

The research was conducted to determine the effects of Sulfur foliar applications on the fibre quality of cotton plants exposed to water stress at different growth stages in the Amik Plain (Hatay province, Turkey) in 2015 and 2016. Cotton plants were studied in three different developmental stages (vegetative growth period (VG); flowering and boll development period (FB) and boll opening period (BO)) and full irrigation was applied in some periods, while deficit irrigation was applied in the others. Sulfur fertiliser from foliar was applied in different doses (S0: 0 ml da-1, S1: 150 ml da-1, S2: 250 ml da-1, S3: 350 ml da-1). The study was carried out with three replications according to the split plot design. In the research, the effects of the water deficit and sulfur dose applications on gin turnout and fibre quality characteristics at different growth stages were investigated. Results showed that the average spinning consistency index (SCI) decreased by 11.75% due to the water deficit (compared to the treatment of TTT, irrigation in all three crop developmental stages). Similar effects were observed in the fibre length, micronaire, fibre strength and uniformity index values, which were decreased by 7.31%, 4.07%, 5.89% and 2.17%, respectively. The average gin turnout of the irrigated treatment (TTT), in which there is no deficit irrigation, decreased by 2.5% compared to the control treatment (OOO). Similar effects were observed in fibre elongation and short fibre content values which were decreased by 8.43% and 14.60%, respectively. The average S1 and S3 sulfur doses increased the gin turnout by 0.44% and 0.35%, respectively, and the S2 dose decreased it by 0.79%.