Water availability will be a key consideration for some (if not all!) growers during the coming season. So in this edition, we take a look at management options for growers with a limited water supply.

Nitrogen management has to be good for best yields, but factors such as soil condition, irrigation and pest management may have greater effects on cotton yield than N rate.

An experiment was conducted at Narrabri Agricultural Research Station during the 1991-92 season to investigate the response of a range of currently available cotton varieties to irrigation and nitrogen treatments.

Greg Constable and I have previously shown that in the Namoi Valley an irrigation water supply of 8 ML per ha is needed to obtain maximum yields in the driest years.

This project was prompted by disappointingly low cotton yields at Emerald and other Central Queensland centres.