No Tradeoff in Fiber Quality with Increased Cotton Yield Due to Outcross Pollination

Sarah Cusser and Shalene Jha
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Sarah Cusser: Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA
Shalene Jha: Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, 205 W 24th Street, 401 Biological Laboratories, Austin, TX 78712, USA

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-9

Abstract: The societal and economic benefits of ecosystem services are both immense and multi-faceted. To holistically quantify the contribution of pollinators to agriculture requires measuring multiple indices of crop production beyond crop yield. Here, we conduct a field-based hand pollination experiment to measure the effects of self and outcross pollen on fiber yield and quality in conventionally managed cotton crops. First, we determine how different pollination treatments affect specific indices of fiber yield and fiber quality, including fiber length and fineness. Second, we investigate the suggested tradeoff between fiber yield and quality. We find that flowers receiving outcross pollen produce larger, heavier bolls than either self-crossed or non-crossed flowers. However, contrary to expectation, flowers of different treatments are indistinguishable in terms of fiber quality. Overall, we find that pollination treatment has no discernable effect on either fiber length or fiber fineness. Understanding the contribution of ecosystem services across multiple axes provides growers with information concerning potential tradeoffs or synergies, and offers insight into management decisions.

Keywords: economics; ecosystem service; fiber length; fiber fineness; Gossypium hirsutum (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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