This document provides information about cotton, including its scientific name, species, distribution, origin, varieties, botany, climatic requirements, cultivation practices, quality parameters, and yields. The key points are: - Cotton belongs to the genus Gossypium, with four main species cultivated around the world. - India is a major producer and cultivator of cotton, growing multiple species across states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh. - Cotton requires warm temperatures and can grow in various soil types as long as pH is between 5.5-8.5. - Quality is determined by parameters like ginning percentage, fiber length, fineness, strength, and spinning count.

2. SCIENTIFIC NAME: Gossypium spp.
 Cotton is the seed fibre.
 Cotton produces finest fibre
 Textile Industry uses cotton.
SPECIES OF COTTON:
 There are 4 species of cotton, such as:
 Asian cotton: Gossypium arboreum
 African cotton: Gossypium herbaceum
 American cotton: Gossypium hirsutum
 Egyptian/sea land cotton: Gossypium barbadens
 India is the only country where all 4 species are cultivated.
 Cotton is called as the white gold.

3. DISTRIBUTION:
 World: USA, China, INDIA, Pakistan, Uzbekistan
 In area India ranks 1st
 In production: India ranks 3rd after USA and china.
 In India: Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
 USA is the largest producer.
 In India; Gossypium hirsutum is grown in 36% area, Gossypium arboreum in 16%
area, Gossypium herbaceum in 7-8% area.
 Gossypicum barbadens produces the finest quality.

4. ORIGIN:
 Gossypium arboreum : Asia and Africa
 Gossypium herbaceum : Africa
 Gossypium hirsutum & Gossypium barbadens : USA & Mexico
 Bt cotton (transgenic cotton) avoid American Pinkboll worm which is a
major pest of cotton.
VARIETIES:
 G. hirsutum : F-414, LH-886, F-505, MCU-5, MCU-7
 G. arboreum : LD-230, LD-491, Lohit, Shamli, Malgiri, Mahaqnadi
 G. barbadens : Survins (popularly known as Anjali)
 G. herbaceum : G.Cotton-13, Raichur-51
 Hybrids: First hybrid in world developed in India i.e. H-4, Shankar-4.
 LHS-13, Dhanalaxmi, Omshankar, Maruvikas, JKHY-2, PKHY-2, CICR,
HH-1(At Nagpur) DCH-31, Savitha.

5. BOTANY OF COTTON:
 Two type of branching are seen in cotton
 Monopodial- vegetative branches don’t bear flower.
 Sympodial- bear flower, reproductive branches.
 In cotton fruit is called as boll
 The fibre is the elongation of the seed coat.
 In the first 15-18 days after fertilization of the boll, attain 90% of the final size.
 The fibre elongation is completed by 21-24 days.

6. FLOWERING STARTS
VEGETATIVE GROWTH STAGE FLOWERIMG STAGE

7. FRUIT
FRUTING STAGE COTTON IN OPEN MATURED BOLL

8. CLIMATIC REQUIREMENT:
 It is a tropical and subtropical crop.
 Annual temperature is over 15.50C.
 The optimum temperature for vegetative growth is 210C.
 During fruiting period the day temperature is 270C to 300C.
 It can’t tolerate frost.
SOIL:
 Can be grown in wide range of soil
 In central India-heavy and black soil (Vertisoils).
 In southern states-Red and Alluvial soil.
 pH of 5.5 to 8.5. is ideal for growing of cotton.

9. COTTON GROWING REGIONS:
 1. Northern- Punjab, Haryana
 2. Central Zone- Maharashtra, Gujrat, Rajasthan
 3. Southern- Tamil Nadu, Karnataka.
SOWING TIME:
 At Northern Zone sowing time- 1st week of May
 Now a days early varieties (1st week of June and 3rd week of May) is the ideal time.
 At central zone: Sowing is done by onset of monsoon and time is 4th week of June to
1st week of July.
 At south zone: Crop grown in onset of monsoon. For growing in residual soil moisture
August and September.

10. LAND PREPARATION:
 Field should be ploughed 15-20cm deep with mould board plough.
 Then 4 harrowings are done.
 No stubbles of the previous crop should be left in the field.
 For irrigated crop, particularly in North, the field should be prepared
by applying heavy pre-sowing irrigation.
SEED RATE:
 G. hirsutum : 18-20kg/ha
 G. arboreum : 10-15kg/ha
 G. herbaceum : 10-15kg/ha
 for hybrid seed rate is 2-3kg/ha
SPACING: 60x30cm (general).
 For hybrids 120cm to 150cm (R-R) and 60cm plant to plant

11. SEED TREATMENT:
 To control the seed borne diseases the seed is treated with 0.01%
Streptomycin, Oxytetracyclin (Paushamycin or Agrimycin) and with
0.1% Systemic fungicide like carboxin (vitavax) solutions for 6-8 hours.
 The treated seed should be dried in shade before sowing.
METHOD OF PLANTING:
 Seed drill and dibbling method are used in planting of cotton.
NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT:(N:P2O5:K2O)
 For HYV – In rainfed condition In irrigated condition
50:25:25 80:40:40
 For hybrid- 100:50:50 160:80:80
 In heavy soil: N is applied in 2 splits: ½ N applied during thinning and another ½ at
flowering stage.
 In light soil: N applied in 3 splits 1/3 at sowing, 1/3 at square formation, 1/3 at flowering
stage.
 All the P and K are applied as basal. K is required for maintaining the quality of fibre to give
strength.

12. IRRIGATION:
 It is a drought tolerant crop due to its deep root system.
 Water requirement is 600 to 800 mm.
 It cannot tolerate excess moisture in the soil .
 Interval between two irrigations depends on the soil type, rainfall
and others related climatic factors.
 Crop can withstand up to 75% depletion of available soil moisture.
 Cannot tolerate water logging conditions .
Critical Stages:
 Square formation stage
 Flowering stage
 Boll developing stage

13. WEED MANAGEMENT:
 First 50 -60 DAS is the critical period of Crop Weed Competition,
 5 – 6 intercultural operations should be done depending on the intensity of
weeds.
 Weed flora: Trianthama portulacastrum, Cynodon dactylon, Portulaca
oleracea, Cellosia spp. Digitaria senguinalis, Euphorbia hirta, sedges:
Cyperus spp.
Management:
 Pre planting incorporation of Basalin @ 1kg ai/ha.
 Pre emergence: Pendimethalin @ 1kg ai/ha or Trifluralin @ 1kg ai/ha.
 Post emergence: Diuron @0.75 kg ai/ha
 Non selective herbicide used in the inter row space: Paraquat @ 0.4 kg
ai/ha; Glyphosate @ 1kg ai/ha.

14. TOPPING:
 Cotton is an indeterminate plant, to check excessive vegetative
growth topping is practiced ,
 Toping refers to the removal of the terminal bud. Level of topping or
at what node topping is to be done will differs with cotton plant type.
 MCU-5: Topping at 15th node level (70 – 80) DAS resulted in better yields
MCU-7: 10 – 12th node (90DAS)
 It restricts excessive vegetative growth retards senescence, keeping the
leaves green for longer time thus prolonging their effective period.

15. BUD AND BOLL SHEDDING:
 Heavy shedding of flower buds and young bolls occur which is aggravated
under adverse conditions of soil, climate and management.(may be 60%)
 Under natural conditions 10 to 15% loss occurs.
Various reasons for bud and boll shedding in Cotton:
 Unfavourable Weather conditions
 Imbalanced nutrient supply
 Incidence of pest and disease
 Physical injury
 Management
 Spraying of NAA –planofix @10 ppm at flower initiation (1 ml in 100 liter)
50 – 60 DAS & 15 days after 1st application resulted in retention of more
bolls.

16.  HARVESTING:
 Harvesting usually commences in the month of Nov. and extends to March
 Harvesting is done usually by hand picking the cotton from the open
matured bolls.
 Harvesting is done in 4 -5 pickings as and when bolls are fully matured.
 Seed cotton should be dry before picking.
 Picked seed cotton separately for marketing and protect from sun, if
exposed than lowering the grade.
 YIELDS:
Dryland crop - 10to 15 q/ha
 Irrigated Crops - 25 to 30q/ha
 Hybrids - 35 to 40 q/ ha.
 Yield is measured by Bale. 1 Bale = 170 kg

17. QUALITY PARAMETERS:
1.Ginning percentage:
Recovery of lint from seed cotton is called Ginning percentage.
 This value ranges from 24 -43 % in different cottons.
 GP = (Weight of lint/ Weight of seed cotton) x 100
 (Seed Cotton = Cotton Seed + Lint)
 2. Colour of fibre:Colour of the fibre of cotton is white with few
exceptions like desi cotton which have reddish or yellowish tinge.
 White coloured cotton which are shiny are considered as superior cotton.


18. 3. Length of fibre:
 The length of fibre is mainly predetermined by heredity and is only slightly
influenced by
growing conditions.
 Fibre length is the mean length of lint hair expressed in mm. longer the length
superior will be the quality.
 Groups Length (mm) Varieties
Short staple < 19.5 Lohit , G - 27
Medium staple 20.0 – 21.5 Raichur 51 ,DB-3-12
Medium long Staple 22.0 – 24.0 MCU-7,G cot 12
Long staple 24.5- 26.5 Krishan, JKHY– 1
Superior long staple 27.0 – 29.5 MCU -5 ,H4,Amaravathi
Extra-long staple 32 & above Suvin and sujatha

19.  4. Fibre fineness:
 It denotes the diameter of the fibre hair or thickness.
 Lesser the diameter superior is the quality.
 Thickness of the fibre ranges from 15-20 microns.
 Fibre fineness is generally expressed as microgram/ inch of the fibre which is
also called micronaire value.
 Instrument MICRONAIRE is used.
 Groups Fineness variety
Very fine < 3.0 -
Fine 3.0 – 3.9 MCU -5 , Varalaxmi ,H6
Average 4.0 – 4.9 H4
Coarse 5.0 -5.9 AKH -4 , maljari
Very coarse >6.0

20.  5. Fibre strength:
 Fibre strength does not refer to an individual fibre but to a tuft of fibres of
a given thickness.
 It is expressed as maximum load in terms of Kg that a fibre bundle can take
when stretched in one direction before it breaks.
 Fibre strength is measured in thousands of pounds /sq inch or
kg/sq cm and grade is allotted, based on strength cotton is classified into
 Groups Grade
Very strong >95
Strong 86 – 95
Average 76 – 85
Fair 66 -75
Weak 66- below

21.  6. Spining count:
 Spinnabilty of the fibre depends on length and thickness of the fibre .
 It is expressed in counts or hanks.
 A count is the number of hanks that a pound of cotton gives.
 One count is equal to 840 yards.
 Thus finer the thread the greater will be the count. Ordinarily Indian
cottons have 22 counts.
 While the best quality cotton may have count ranging between 80to400. On
the basis of spinnability cottons are divided into five groups.
 Group Counts Varieties
Course Cotton 1 - 17 Maljari
Medium coarse 17-26 AKH4, Sanjay
Superior medium coarse 26 – 35 Nerma
Fine 35 -48 Bur 1007
Superior fine 40- 80 MCU5, H4, H6
> 80 Varalaxmi, Suvin,

22. 7. Hygroscopicity:
 The dry cotton absorbs moisture from the atmosphere.
 Presence of moisture in the lint affects the colour, elasticity, lustre etc., and
the fibres having moisture break very frequently.
 Thus the fibres which absorbs less moisture are considered to be of superior
quality and vice-versa.
8. Seed Index:
 It is the test weight , which is weight of 100 seeds (g).
 Seed index of cotton varies from 4.8 to 11g.
9. Oil content:
 It varies from 14.5 to 22.5% is desi cotton and ranges between 17.5 to 22.5 %
in American cottons.
10. Lint Index: It is the weight of lint form 100seeds
Lint Index = [Weight of 100 seeds/(100 –G.P)] x GP