Effects of Combining Cotton Artificial Detopping with Chemical Detopping on Cotton Agronomic and Yield Traits

【Objective】 To explore the effective combination of artificial topping and chemical capping to form a more complete cotton pruning technology in the hope of providing a theoretical basis for enhancing cotton pruning effect and increasing cotton yield. 【Method】 The effects of different treatments on agronomic and yield traits of cotton were analyzed by adjusting the chronological order of chemical capping and artificial capping with the amount of chemical capping agent sprayed. 【Result】 The results showed that compared with the previous chemical topping and manual topping control, the plant height was reduced by 6.37% and the average leaf branch growth was reduced by 0.35 cm. The number of cotton bolls was lower and the number of fruit branches. Fruit lengths of the last 1, 2 and 3 branches increased by 3.36 cm, and boll number per cotton plant increased, too. In each dose treatment, 300 mL/hm² chemical capping agent performed well, its inhibition effect on leaf branch length, fruiting branch length and fruiting branch number had no significant difference with other treatments, but its cotton boll shedding number was lower, the boll number per plant was 6.25. Seed cotton yield and lint yield were the highest, 7,779.99 and 3,203.02 kg/hm², respectively. 【Conclusion】 In conclusion, the chemical capping agent 300 mL/hm² sprayed 5 days after artificial topping can restrain the elongation of ineffective branches and prevent the falling off of the buds with the effect of increasing the yield by about 15.28%, which has certain application and popularization value