All Issues

frequent irrigation, the usual man- agement practice in the production of hand-picked tomatoes, is not necessarily best suited for the new varieties developed for one-time mechanical harvesting. In addition to the need for determinate maturity, dry fields allow much more efficient operation of mechanical harvesting equipment. These studies were conducted to determine how dry the soil can become before affecting yield, maturity, and soluble solids content of the new varieties-and whether a plant or soil moisture index can be developed as a guide to irrigation of the growing crop, as well as the final water cutoff date. Research has previously shown that irrigation practices do affect the relative maturity of the crop and can directly influence yields obtained in a single harvesting operation.

literally hundreds of chemicals have been evaluated for possible use as systemic insecticides in an extension research program aimed at integrated pest control for cotton. This research-sponsored and financed largely by the Cotton Producer's Institute-promises to reduce insect-caused crop losses and extra production costs for cotton estimated at nearly $300 million annually in the United States.