Defoliants harvest-aid chemicals: Cost effective technology to facilitate synchronized maturity for mechanical harvesting in cotton: A review Ashraf A. Mohammed1,*, Begam S. Naziya2, Ragavan T.3 1Department of Agronomy, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College of Agriculture and Research Institute (Govt. of Pondicherry and Affiliated to Pondicherry University), Karaikal-609 603, U.T. of Puducherry, India 2Department of Entomology, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai-625 104, Tamil Nadu, India 3Agricultural Research Station, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Paramakudi-623 707, Tamil Nadu, India *Corresponding Author: A. Mohammed Ashraf, Department of Agronomy, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College of Agriculture and Research Institute (Govt. of Pondicherry and Affiliated to Pondicherry University), Karaikal-609 603, U.T. of Puducherry, India, Email: ashrafbsa09040@gmail.com
Online published on 27 October, 2023. Abstract In the recent years, increasing labour cost and shortage of labour being the major constraints to follow manual harvesting in cotton in staggered manner. Further, it is very expensive and farmers would like to increasingly opt for mechanical harvesting. In this context, it is suggested that research should focus to reduce cost of cultivation substantially by promoting the use of synchronized maturity in cotton and use of defoliants to encourage mechanical harvesting. In agriculture, defoliants are used to eliminate the leaves of a crop plant so that they do not interfere with the harvesting by machinery. Early harvesting with good boll opening can also be achieved by use of defoliants. The use of defoliants also reduces the trash content in picked cotton which will also help in improving the quality of cotton. There is a need to identify suitable defoliant with suitable dose and time of application so as to facilitate mechanical harvesting in rainfed cotton. Some of the successful defoliants for uniform boll bursting and higher yield of cotton such as rthrel, rthepon, mepiquat chloride (MC), sodium salt and DU (Dropp Ultra) are the hormonal defoliants and TDZ thidiazuron, butifos, merphos, tribufos and tribufate are the herbicidal defoliants. The best combination of thidiazuron + diuron (DCMU), pyraflufen ethyl, thidiazuron + diuroncellular isozyme, Ethephon + AMADS, ethephon + cyclanilide ethephon + tribufos Mepiquat chloride (MC) + cyclanilide may be recommended to facilitate mechanical harvesting in cotton. Top Keywords Cotton, Defoliants, Mechanical harvesting. Top |