Residual Compaction Effects on Cotton Stand and Yields

ABSTRACT SOIL compaction is known to affect crop yields. In the work reported here the residual effects of soil compaction on cotton yield reduction through diminished plant stand and increased stand variability have been established. A simple variational model is used to predict average yield from the mean values land the standard deviations of the crop stand and water use in the field. Good agreement was attained between predicted and measured average yields of seed cotton for trickle and sprinkler irrigated fields. Seed cotton yields were found to be more sensitive to stand variations than to variations in water distributions under the described experimental conditions.