Abstract
Two years field experiments were conducted at Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology to study the effect of moisture stress and nitrogen interaction on fruit setting of new genotypes of cotton under climatic conditions of Faisalabad. Experiments were designed according to RCB split-split plot arrangements with three replications. Four moisture stress treatment applied were; local control (LC)- recommended irrigations, moisture stress at inter-node elongation stage (MSI), moisture stress at vegetative growth stage (MSV), and moisture stress at inter-node elongation and vegetative growth stage (MSI+ MSV). Three nitrogen (N) doses used were; 50 kg ha-1 , 100 kg ha-1 , and 150 kg ha-1 . Three cotton genotypes NIAB-846, NIAB-824, and CIM-496 were planted. Highest fruit setting% (P≤0.05) of 53.89% (during 2008-09) and 58.57 % (during 2009-10) was achieved by interaction of MSV × 50 kg N ha-1 × NIAB-846 followed by highest fruit setting in MSV × 100 kg N ha-1 × NIAB-846 interaction in both the years. These results showed that in LC (where sufficient irrigation water is available for application at critical growth stages), nitrogen application @ 100 kg ha-1 may be more economical as compared to farmers’ practice of higher N use i.e. 150 kg ha-1 . However, under deficit irrigation, moisture stress at vegetative growth phase (MSV) it produced higher fruit setting in NIAB-846 and CIM-496 genotypes of cotton by lower nitrogen dose of only 50 kg N ha-1 as compared to 150 kg N ha-1 .
