Influence of Population Biomass Accumulation During Different Growth Periods on Agronomic Traits and Cotton Yield

Increased output per unit area is the main goal of cotton producers worldwide, and the determination of biomass for high-yield cotton production is most important index. Cotton plants were grown at five densities (2.25, 3.0, 3.75, 4.5, and 5.25 × 104 plants ha−1). The relationships between the lint yield, construction of vegetative and reproductive organs and the population biomass were investigated. The results indicated that the maximum lint yield could be obtained at an appropriate population biomass before peak flowering and that the maximum lint yield increased with the biomass after peak flowering. When a lint yield above 1875.0 kg ha−1 was achieved, the biomass was at 657.0, 2317.3 and 5398.0 kg ha−1 for peak squaring, early flowering and peak flowering, respectively, whereas it surpassed 11,977.4 kg ha−1 and 15,365.8 kg ha−1 for the biomass at peak boll-setting and during the boll open period, respectively. This study indicated that moderate biomass accumulation before peak flowering and higher population biomass accumulation after peak flowering could achieve high lint yield because of the construction of optimum plant height, maximum and suitable LAI, maximum fruiting branches and boll weight before peak flowering, the highest effective fruiting node number and the population boll number after peak flowering. The results suggest that agronomic measurements could be implemented according to population biomass dynamics of high yield during the main growth stages.