Effect of tillage methods and water treatment on production and water use of cotton

To develop a suitable tillage method and irrigation schedule of transplanted cotton following wheat harvest under sprinkler irrigation, three treatments such as plowing tillage, no-tillage and minimum tillage were designed in this paper, and two water deficit treatments with 60% and 50% of field capacity were set at both bud stage and flower and boll stage under minimum tillage method, respectively. The effects of different tillage methods and soil water regime on total water consumption, seed yield, water use efficiency and fiber quality on transplanted cotton following wheat harvest were analyzed. The results showed that plowing tillage and minimum tillage did not have significant influence on water consumption, seed yield, water use efficiency and fiber quality of cotton. Although no-tillage had significant influence on water consumption and seed yield, it could save water by 19.96% and reduced yield by 13.15%. The minimum tillage with water deficit at bud stage and at flower and boll stage restrained the boll growth, significantly reduced the boll number, and reduced seed yield with increasing water deficit degree，especially if water deficit was at the same degree，rate of reduction of output at bud stage would be higher than that at flower and boll stage. Different tillage methods did not affect the fiber quality of cotton significantly, but water deficit reduced fiber quality. Therefore, minimum tillage methods can play a role in water and soil conservation without reducing yield, and its irrigation control index is to keep soil moisture above 70% of field capacity at the bud stage and at flower and boll stage.