Performance evaluation of cotton picker affected by twin-row planting pattern, variety and plant density in Fars province

The performance of cotton pickers can be affected by various factors such as field and crop conditions. In this study, the effect of planting patterns, plant density and cultivar on the cotton picker performance and also determining the most appropriate combination of them in the south of Iran were investigated.

 The experimental design was done as split-split plot based on a randomized complete block with three replications at the Darab Agricultural Research Station, during the 2019 to 2020 growing season. The planting patterns were in two levels of twin-row (TR) and single row planting (SR) as the main plot, three cultivars as the subplot include Macsa (V1), Golestan (V2), Hekmat (V3) and the plant spacing (PD1:10, PD2:13, PD3:16 cm) as sub-sub plot.

The planting pattern, variety and plant spacing had a significant effect on performance indexes of cotton picker harvester. The highest harvester efficiency was observed for single row planting treatment. The minimum effective field capacity and harvester efficiency was observed for twin-row planting system. The PD3 treatment increased ground loss by 54.5% compared to PD1 treatment. The PD3 treatment increased ground loss by 54.5% compared to PD1 treatment.

With regard to mean comparisons of grain yield and seed cotton loss, the single row planting pattern in combination of V2 × PD2 and V3 × PD2 were seen suitable in the south of Fars province and areas with similar climate.