Journal of Advances in Biology & Biotechnology

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) productivity is influenced by planting geometry, plant population, crop growth and rainfall distribution. The high-density planting system (HDPS) has emerged as an alternative to conventional cotton cultivation because it can improve productivity per unit area despite lower boll production per plant on light soils. A field-based comparative evaluation was undertaken to assess the growth and yield performance of cotton under three planting methods: high-density planting system (T1), closer spacing (T2) and conventional planting (T3), under the agroclimatic conditions of Mancherial District, Telangana, India. The observations included plant height and the number of functional leaves at 30, 60, 90 and 120 days after sowing (DAS), sympodial branches per plant, dry matter accumulation, bolls per plant and seed cotton yield (q/acre). The reported monthly rainfall from June to November totalled 1,193.99 mm, with the highest rainfall in August (372 mm), followed by September (336 mm) and July (239.22 mm). Conventional planting recorded the highest plant height (120 cm), number of sympodial branches (18 per plant), dry matter accumulation (142 g per plant) and number of bolls per plant (32). In contrast, HDPS recorded the highest reported seed cotton yield (12.50 quintals per acre), followed by closer spacing (11.00 q/acre) and conventional planting (8.50 q/acre). The yield under HDPS was 13.64% higher than that under closer spacing and 47.06% higher than that under conventional planting.