2020 Season Overview

Planting conditions were generally favorable for producers in 2020, although rain events in May delayed planting on a large proportion of acreage to late May and early June. In fact, the southwest and west-central locations of our 2020 RACE trials were all planted between May 29th and June 3rd. Moisture was rapidly diminishing by the end of the first week of June and hot, dry conditions dominated the primary cotton regions of the state through the remainder of the month and persisted into early July. Various significant rain events were received from mid-July into early August, although there were variations on how much and when rain fell across certain areas. For example, while the Oklahoma Mesonet site located in Elk City recorded 3.4 inches of rain during July, stations in Tipton and Altus each recorded 1.4 inches. However, this was reversed in August, with only 0.85 inches of rain received at Elk City (over half occurring during the last three days of the month), compared to 2.1 inches at both Altus and Tipton. This July through August rain was beneficial for both dryland and irrigated cotton. It coincided with the squaring through early/peak bloom growth stages for the majority of cotton in Oklahoma, which helped to reduce water stress during these critical growth stages and optimize yield.

There was an overall favorable outlook as the crop entered September, although the dry August had certainly lowered the optimism once surrounding the dryland crop. Then a cold snap struck western Oklahoma Sept. 9 and 10, with daytime highs struggling to reach 60 F at best, and nighttime lows flirting with freezing in many areas. Although this two-day cold snap was followed by a return to warmer temperatures, it is likely partially to blame for the struggles many had with defoliation and boll opening later in the year. It is more likely this short-term cold snap was an extreme sample of a larger issue, a cooler-than-average September with total heat unit accumulation falling 100 to 150 below average. It is likely the slower leaf drop and boll opening, as well as the variability in micronaire or low micronaire common to many areas in 2020 is to blame on the weather conditions the crop experienced throughout September. There was one final hurdle to cross as an ice storm struck the area in late October, coating open bolls in ice and resulting in lint stringing out of the bolls. Luckily, there was little wind with this system or in subsequent weather events, and the actual loss of lint due to fallout was surprisingly low given the severity of the storm and the number of open bolls present on the plants. The overall feeling from 2020 was that while both yields and quality were good, maybe even great in some cases, they generally fell short of expectations due to the favorable conditions throughout the first three months of the season. 

A total of 25 commercial varieties and one experimental variety from five seed companies were evaluated across five locations in the 2020 RACE Trials (Table 1). There were a multitude of insect and herbicide traits represented within these varieties, including both two and three gene Bt and herbicide traits (Table 2). Seasonal temperature patterns from the southwest and Panhandle regions are illustrated by the monthly heat unit accumulation for 2020 compared to the 12-year average for Altus (Figure 1) and Goodwell (Figure 2). Dryland performance pooled across the southwest region dry-land trials is presented in Table 3, while variety performance compared to the trial average of entries were included in at least four locations is presented in Table 4. Since there are variations in variety entries across the various regions of the state, these tables provide a hint of variety performance stability for areas unrepresented by our current RACE trial locations.

Table 1. Seed company participants and variety abbreviations for entries in 2019 Oklahoma RACE Trials.

Table 2. Insect and herbicide trait glossary for 2019 Oklahoma RACE Trial entries.

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, the authors would like to thank the Oklahoma cotton producers who serve as cooperators and allow us to use their land, equipment and time to conduct these trials. These trials wouldn’t be possible without their cooperation and support. Financial support for these trials was provided by the Cotton Inc. Oklahoma State Support Committee and the participating seed companies. We would like to thank Khawar Arain, Brendan Kelly and the staff of the Texas Tech University Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute for providing fiber classing services for these trials. Finally, we would like to thank the Oklahoma Cotton Council for their support of both the cotton agronomy program at Oklahoma State University and the entire Oklahoma cotton industry.

Participating Seed Companies

• Americot/NexGen
• Deltapine
• Dyna-Gro Seed
• FiberMax/Stoneville
• PhytoGen Cottonseed

For more information, visit OSU's Cotton section or NTOK Cotton.
 
Figure 1. Monthly heat unit (DD 60) accumulation from the Altus Mesonet station.
 
Figure 2. Monthly heat unit (DD 60) accumulation from the Goodwell Mesonet station.

Table 3. 2020 Southwest Dryland Pooled RACE Trial Results.

¹ Varieties included across Greer, Jackson and Tillman trial locations.
² Percent difference between yield of variety and trial yield aver-age across all three locations.

Table 4. 2020 Variety Yield Deviation1 (minimum four locations).

Table 5. 2020 Greer Co. Dryland RACE Trial results.

Planted: May 29
Seeding Rate: 25,000 40-inch row spacing
Harvested: Nov. 7, stripper harvested

¹Color and leaf grades set to base levels (41 and 4, respectively) due to lack of proper lint cleaner on gin.
²Return per acre calculated as (lint yield per acre X loan value per pound) - seed cost per acre.
³NS; no significant statistical difference between varieties at p-value <0.1.

Table 6. 2020 Jackson Co. Dryland Strip Trial Results.
Planted: June 3
Seeding Rate: 20,000, 40-inch row spacing
Harvested: Nov. 19, stripper harvested

¹Color and leaf grades set to base levels (41 and 4, respectively) due to lack of proper lint cleaner on gin.
²Return per acre calculated as (lint yield per acre X loan value per pound) - seed cost per acre.

Table 7. 2020 Jackson Co. irrigated RACE trial results.
Planted: May 29
Seeding Rate: 42,000 38-inch row spacing
Irrigation: sub-surface drip located on 72” spacing in furrow
Harvested: Nov. 12, picker harvested

Table 8. 2020 Lincoln Co. Dryland RACE Trial.
Planted: May 5
Seeding Rate: 34,000 38-inch row spacing
Harvested: Nov. 8, picker harvested

¹Four replications planted of each variety, approximately two plots were combined into a single round module producing two modules from each variety.
²Color and leaf grades set to base levels (41 and 4, respectively) due to lack of proper lint cleaner on gin.
³Return per acre calculated as (lint yield per acre X loan value per pound) - seed cost per acre.

Table 9. 2020 Texas Co. Dryland RACE Trial.
Planted: May 14
Seeding Rate: 35,000 30-inch row spacing
Harvested: Nov. 5, stripper harvested without bur extractor

¹Color and leaf grades set to base levels (41 and 4, respectively) due to lack of proper lint cleaner on gin.

²Return per acre calculated as (lint yield per acre X loan value per pound) - seed cost per acre.
³NS; no significant statistical difference between varieties at p-value <0.1.

Table 10. 2020 Texas Co. Irrigated RACE Trial.
Planted: May 12
Seeding Rate: 50,000 30-inch row spacing
Irrigation: lateral move overhead system
Harvested: Nov. 9, stripper harvested

¹Color and leaf grades set to base levels (41 and 4, respectively) due to lack of proper lint cleaner on gin.
²Return per acre calculated as (lint yield per acre X loan value per pound) - seed cost per acre.
³NS; no significant statistical difference between varieties at p-value <0.1.

Table 11. 2020 Tillman Co. Dryland RACE Trial.
Planted: June 2
Seeding Rate: 25,000 40-inch row spacing
Harvested: Nov. 19, stripper harvested

¹Color and leaf grades set to base levels (41 and 4, respectively) due to lack of proper lint cleaner on gin.
²Return per acre calculated as (lint yield per acre X loan value per pound) - seed cost per acre.
³NS; no significant statistical difference between varieties at p-value <0.1.

Table 12. 2020 Tillman Co. Irrigated RACE Trial.
Planted: June 1
Seeding Rate: 40,000 40-inch row spacing
Irrigation: center pivot
Harvested: Nov. 20, picker harvested

¹Color and leaf grades set to base levels (41 and 4, respectively) due to lack of proper lint cleaner on gin.
²Return per acre calculated as (lint yield per acre X loan value per pound) - seed cost per acre.
³NS; no significant statistical difference between varieties at p-value <0.1.

Table 13. 2020 Washita Co. Dryland RACE Trial.
Planted: June 2
Seeding Rate: 30,000 40-inch row spacing
Harvested: Nov. 11, stripper harvested

¹Color and leaf grades set to base levels (41 and 4, respectively) due to lack of proper lint cleaner on gin.
²Return per acre calculated as (lint yield per acre X loan value per pound) - seed cost per acre.
³NS; no significant statistical difference between varieties at p-value <0.1.

Seth Byrd
Cotton Extension Specialist

Andrea Althoff
Graduate Research Assistant

Aaron Henson
Extension Educator, Tillman County

Greg Hartman
Extension Educator, Washita and Beckham counties

Gary Strickland
Extension Educator, Greer and Jackson counties and Dryland Cropping Systems Specialist

Bradley Wilson
Graduate Research Assistant

Jerry Goodson
Extension Assistant, IPM

Josh Bushong
Area Agronomist

Danny Cook
Extension Educator, Roger Mills County

Cayden Catlin
Graduate Research Assistant

Cameron Murley
Superintendent, OPREC

Brian Pugh
Area Agronomist and District Program Leader

Cody Linker
Extension Educator, Lincoln County