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Correlation of Soil Moisture and Cotton Yields¹

ABSTRACT

In a 22-year experiment, the correlation between the yield of lint cotton and available soil moisture at three sampling dates and six sampling depths was determined. The most significant correlation was found to exist for the available moisture in the soil on May 20, the optimum date for planting cotton. The correlation between yield and soil moisture was slightly lower for determinations made on June 20, and much lower for those made on April 20. Eliminating the moisture content of the first foot of soil, which fluctuates greatly because of weed growth and evaporation, improved the relationships on all dates. The relationships were not improved by including the moisture in the fourth and fifth feet of soil — an indication that in most years the cotton plant obtains most of the water necessary for growth from the second and third feet of soil. The importance of deep moisture storage in cotton production under sub-humid and semi-arid conditions is discussed.

¹ Contribution from the Texas Agr. Exp. Sta., Spur, Tex., as Technical Article No. 1766. Presented before Division I, Soil Science Society of America, Dallas, Texas, Nov. 17, 1953.

² Assistant agronomist and Superintendent, Texas Agr. Exp. Sta., Substation No. 7, Spur, Tex.

Received for publication November 23, 1953.