Spacing and plant density effect on reproductive development of herbaceous cotton

Abstract

The aim of this work was to evaluate the influence of spacing and plant density for cotton plant on reproductive structures and productivity. The work was conducted at the Mato Grosso State University (UNEMAT) experimental field, Tangara da Serra Campus, latitude 14°37'10 "S, longitude 57°29'09" W and altitude 320 m, in the 2008/2009 season. It was used a randomized block delineation in a 4x4 factorial scheme with 16 treatments and 4 replicates, consisting of four row spacings: 0.36, 0.45, 0.75 and 0.90 m, and four densities: 8, 10, 12 and 14 plants per meter, using the cultivar FMT-701^® for planting. After the evaluation it was concluded that the cotton crop was influenced by the spacing on number of flower buds per plant, number of bolls and productivity. The smaller spacing had fewer flower buds and lower productivity. The largest spacing had fewer bolls per plant. The plant density has influenced only the number of flower buds per plant. The density of 10 plants per meter showed the highest number of flower buds per plant. It was verified no effect in the interaction spacing x plant density on cotton crops.