Effects of 1,3-Dicliloropropene for Meloidogyne incognita Management on Cotton Produced under Furrow Irrigation.

Field trials were conducted during 1990 to evaluate the effects of preplant soil fumigation with 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D) on yield and fiber quality of furrow-irrigated cotton cultivars subjected to high population densities of Meloidogyne incognita. We measured the responses of eight upland cotton cultivars with different levels of root-knot nematode resistance and compared the responses of upland and Pima cottons. Reductions in lint weight ranged from 10 to 52% among cultivars grown in soil without 1,3-D fumigation compared with those grown in treated soil. Meloidogyne incognita reduced yields primarily by reducing the number of bolls on each plant, rather than by decreasing boll size. Cotton fiber quality varied among cultivars but was unaffected by M. incognita in either study. Upland cotton cultivar Acala 1517-88 and M-315/240 sustained less than half the yield reductions observed with M. incognita-susceptible cultivars Deltapine 41 and Paymaster 145. Sixty days after cotton emergence, fewer M. incognita second-stage juveniles were recovered from M-315/240 than all other cultivars.