Jinhua  Cheng¹ , Jin Zhang²

1 Institute of Life Science, Jiyang College of Zhejiang A&F University, Zhuji, 311800, China
2 Hainan Provincial Key Laboratory of Crop Molecular Breeding, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China
Author    Correspondence author
Molecular Soil Biology, 2025, Vol. 16, No. 1   
Received: 10 Dec., 2024    Accepted: 11 Jan., 2025    Published: 28 Jan., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

This study focused on cotton cultivation in arid regions and analyzed the key factors influencing high cotton yield and water use efficiency. Results showed significant differences in yield and drought resistance between irrigated and non-irrigated cotton varieties. Among them, ‘Tamcot CD3H’ and ‘TX-CABUCS-2-1-83’ maintained high yields even without irrigation, demonstrating good drought tolerance. Moderately reducing irrigation (controlling to 80% of field capacity) can conserve water and improve water use efficiency while maintaining yield. Controlling irrigation timing and water temperature is also crucial, with irrigation at night and water temperatures maintained between 25 ℃ and 28 ℃. Using treated wastewater for irrigation in arid regions has not only increased cotton yields but also reduced reliance on chemical fertilizers and lowered costs. Adopting partial root zone dry irrigation and mulching has reduced water use while also improving yield and quality. This study proposes a series of effective practices for cotton cultivation in arid regions and introduces several promising technologies and regulatory measures.

High-yield cotton; Water use efficiency; Arid regions; Genetic variation; Under-irrigation; Wastewater irrigation; Partial root zone drought; Mulching technology