New Variety Grows Good Cotton And Plenty Of It
• New cotton variety, UA107, offers high yields and high fiber quality in an okra leaf plant
• Okra leaf type plant permits better canopy penetration for pesticides and makes a less favorable environment for fungal diseases
• The new cotton is intended as a replacement for UA103
KEISER, ARK.
A new cotton variety from the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers high yields and excellent fiber quality for Arkansas growers.
UA107 was developed from crossbreeding done in 2007 at the division’s Northeast Research and Extension Center at Keiser, said cotton breeder Fred Bourland. It was derived from a cross between UA103, which it is intended to replace, and Arkot 9704.
Bourland said UA107 outperformed other cotton varieties for yield, including UA48 and DP393, in trials conducted in Arkansas from 2013 through 2016. In trials conducted at 12 locations across the country, from California to Virginia, UA107 was the second-highest yield among 28 entries.
“The line that yielded numerically better was another one from our Arkansas program,” Bourland said, “but its fiber quality was much lower than UA107.”
UA107 is an okra leaf variety, Bourland said. Its leaf shape is more like that of okra plants than more traditional slightly indented cotton leaves. The shape allows better penetration of pesticides and is less likely to promote the warm, humid environment at ground level that can lead to fungal diseases like boll rot.
On the other hand, Bourland said, okra leaf cottons take longer to reach closed canopy, so weeds can be a problem in some fields.
UA107 is highly resistant to all known races of bacterial blight, Bourland said. It is tolerant of verticillium wilt and resistant to fusarium wilt. The variety is also moderately resistant to tarnished plant bug.
Bourland said UA107 hasn’t been tested for heat tolerance, but that it has good heat tolerance in its parentage.
Don Dombek, director of the division’s Arkansas Crop Verification and Improvement Program, said the division will license UA107 to a seed company this year and expects that seed will be available to growers in 2018. ∆