EFFECT OF POTASSIUM FERTILIZER ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF TWO COTTON CULTIVARS

A field experiment was conducted at the IPA Field Crops Research Station, Abu - Graib during 2002 season and at Experimental Farm, Department of Field Crops Science, College of Agriculture , Abu-Graib during 2004 season. The objective was to study the effect of potassium levels on the growth and yield of two cotton oddest& The layout of the experiment was a split - plot in RCBD with three replications. Cultivars (Cocker 310 and Lachata) were the main plots while the fertilizer levels (K0, K60, K120 and K180) Kg K/ha were the sub plots. The results showed that Cocker 310 was superior in plant height, number of sympodial, boll weigh and number of seeds/boll, while Lachata cultivar produced high er seed cotton yield per ha due to producing higher number of open bolls. Application of potassium fertilizer caused a significant increase in plant height, number of sympodial, boll weight, number of open bolls and seed cotton while there were no significant differences in number of seed/boll in both years. There was a significant interaction between cultivars and potassium level on all characters except seeds/boll. The Lachata cv. using 180 Kg/ha K produced highest cotton yield 3972.81 and 4287.39 Kg/ha during the 2002 and 2004 seasons respectively.