Growth and Yield Performance of Some Cotton Cultivars in Xinjiang,China, An Arid Area with Short Growing Period

Eleven cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) cultivars were evaluated for their growth and yield performance in Shihezi, Xinjiang, China, an area in Central Asia with short growing period in 1999 and 2000. In each cultivar the number of bolls per plant was low and the number of bolls per unit area was high. Each cultivar showed rather high seed and lint yields. The highest lint yield was Xinluzao 10 in both years with 1761 and 1809 kg ha^?1. High yield ability of the cultivars in this study was attributed to large number of bolls per unit area with high lint percentage. Seed and lint yields had significant positive correlations with mean net assimilation rate, ratio of reproductive to vegetative organs and mean boll weight at earlier stages of boll growth, suggesting that early boll formation and successive partitioning of dry matter into bolls were important factors for boll growth in this study area.