THE EFFECT OF TILLAGE SYSTEM, ROW SPACING, EQUIPMENT SIZE, SOIL GROUP, ANDVARIETY TYPE ON YIELDS, COSTS AND RETURNS, MISSISSIPPI DELTA, 2003

摘要

Researchers in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University, (DAE/MSU), in cooperation withscientists at other locations and other agencies began investigating alternative systems of cotton production during the 1999production season (Parvin and Cooke, 1999). Initial research efforts focused on no-till (NT) cotton production (Parvin andCooke, 2000; Parvin, Martin, and Cooke, 2002b; Parvin and Stephens, 2001b) and ultra-narrow row (UNR) cotton productionsystems (Parvin, Cooke, and Molin; Parvin, Martin, and Cooke, 2002a; Stephens and Parvin). While preliminary surveyresults indicated both systems were promising, the researchers found that cotton production systems based on skip-row(SXR) planting patterns (Parvin, Cooke, and McCarty; Parvin and Stephens, 2001a) were an attractive alternative to standardor traditional methods (systems) of cotton production on a large portion of Mississippi cotton acreage. Surveys designed tomeasure differences in NT, UNR, and SXR cotton production systems indicated an emerging system of production which theauthors initially labeled “limited seedbed/chemical tillage” (LS/CT). These systems combine deep tillage and no-till systemsof production (Parvin, Cooke, and Martin, 2002).