Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-w7rtg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-25T06:02:30.712Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Experimental methods with cotton. III.* Sulphuric acid treatment of cotton seed, and its effects on germination, development and yield

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

D. Macdonald
Affiliation:
Empire Cotton Growing Corporation, Cotton Experiment Station, Barberton, South Africa
W. L. Fielding
Affiliation:
Empire Cotton Growing Corporation, Cotton Experiment Station, Barberton, South Africa
D. F. Ruston
Affiliation:
Empire Cotton Growing Corporation, Cotton Experiment Station, Barberton, South Africa

Extract

1. For experimental purposes the treatment of cotton seed with sulphuric acid, prior to planting, has always been the custom at Barberton. In view of the doubts about the benefits of this treatment which were expressed by Christidis (1936), experiments were carried out at Barberton in the 1938–9 and 1939–40 seasons, to provide concrete proof, if possible, of the advantages which it was believed resulted from it.

2. A series of stand counts made soon after germination revealed definite benefits with acid treatment, in all experiments in both seasons. The seedlings emerged considerably earlier than those from untreated seeds, and the stands recorded at the final counts revealed a significant advantage for acid-treated seed, throughout the experiments. The second season's experiments gave a greater advantage for acid treating when meteorological conditions were bad than when they were good, but the advantage even with ideal weather was still significant. The benefit of acid treatment was shown to be greater, too, with poor samples of seed than with good, and with the smaller seed rate than with the greater.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1947

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Christidis, B. G. (1936). J. Agric. Sci. 26, 648.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansford, C. G., Hosking, H. R., Stoughton, R. H. & Yates, F. (1933). Ann. Appl. Biol. 20, 404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jameson, J. D. & Weatherley, P. E. (1945). Exp. Stas Emp. Cott. Gr. Corp. p. 99.Google Scholar
Lochrie, J. V. (1939–1942). Exp. Stas Emp. Cott. Gr. Corp., Swaziland.Google Scholar
MacDonald, D., Fielding, W. L. & Ruston, D. F. (1939). J. Agric. Sci. 29, 35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacDonald, D., Fielding, W. L. & Ruston, D. F. (1940). Exp. Stas Emp. Cott. Gr. Corp. p. 23.Google Scholar