The Effect of Date and Pattern of Sowing on Growth, Productivity and Technological Characters of Cotton (Gossypium barbadense L.) Variety Giza 86

Two field experiments were conducted during the 2013 and 2014 summer seasons to investigate the effect of planting dates and planting patterns on productivity and quality characters of Egyptian cotton cultivar Giza 86 (Gossypium barbadense L.). Effects of planting date were more pronounced on the studied phenological characters, yield and yield components than the planting patterns. The fiber technological traits including micronaire-reading, fiber maturity, fiber upper half mean length (UHML), uniformity index (UI), short fiber (SF) and fiber strength (Str.) were least affected by either planting dates or planting patterns. Results suggest that growing cotton on the 1st of April is more suitable than delayed sowing for the cultivar Giza 86 and that the standard sowing of seeds on one side of the ridge, in hills 25 cm apart, resulted in better growth characters and highest yields. Also growing cotton on the wide ridges of the preceding wheat crop is not recommended as it resulted in reduction in yield and its components.