Assessing the potentials of growing Samcot 9 Cotton variety in Kano state, Nigeria

Abstract

A Completely randomized field experiment with nine replications was conducted in the North, South and Central Agricultural zones of Kano State during the 2004 cotton growing season with a control in Katsina state, a cotton producing area, with the object of assessing the potentials of the profitable production of the SAMCOT 9 cotton variety in Kano State. A number of growth and yield parameters, which included plant height, stem circumference and seed cotton yield, were measured during the study. The trial involved a systematic composite soil sampling and analysis which indicated that the soils of the four regions were generally acidic and sandyloam with low nitrogen and carbon contents. The mean available K+ was 0.22me/100g with the lowest recorded from Katsina State. Generally, there were low concentrations of phosphorus in all the zones with the lowest recorded in Katsina State (15.20ppm). The height of the Plants from the four sites showed a significant (p<0.001) linear increase throughout the active growing period with the highest height was obtained in site B (Kano south) and the lowest from site D (Katsina State). The difference in the height of the plants between the 4 study sites was significant (p<0.001). There was a consistent increase in the stem circumference up to wk 12 after germination which was significantly different (p<0.001) between the four sites: the highest value was obtained in site C (Kano State) and the lowest in site D (Katsina State). The total yield showed site C producing the highest seed cotton of 800.20kg/ha. The yield of seed cotton throughout the study areas was consistently low probably because the rainy season ended early in September, 2004. Higher yield could be expected if rainfall and other ecological factors are favorable. This indicated that Kano State has the potential for the production of Samcot 9 cotton variety.

Keywords: Cotton, agricultural zones, soil, growth, yield