Cotton growth, yield, quality and boron distribution as affected by soil-applied boron in calcareous saline soil

Boron (B) is deficient in the calcareous, Typic Haplocambid soils of cotton growing belt of Pakistan, and thus is a vital reason for less cotton yield in the region. In order to investigate the growth and quality alterations associated with soil applied B on cotton ( cv. CIM-616 and CIM-600 ) an experiment was conducted. Boron was applied at 0.00, 2.60, 5.52, 7.78 and 10.04 mg B kg −1 of soil using borax (Na 2 B 4 O 7 .10H 2 O), in a complete randomized design with factorial arrangement with four replications. Results revealed that soil applied B @ 2.60 mg B kg −1 of soil significantly (P≤0.05) improved cotton growth, yield, quality and B distribution among different parts. Different growth and yield parameters like plant height, leaf area, number of bolls, boll size and weight, seed cotton yield, photosynthesis, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, water use efficiency, GOT, staple length and fiber fineness and strength except B uptake by roots, seed, leaves and stalk plant body which was significantly increased with B (10.04 mg B kg −1 ) in both cultivars of cotton, but the degree of effects was varied between cultivars. The results indicated that studied traits of both cultivars were significantly (P≤0.05) decreased in B-deficient stressed treatments. Between hybrids, CIM-600 produced significantly (P≤0.05) maximum recorded parameters under 2.60 mg B kg −1 application compared than CIM-616. Our findings confirm that the adequate level of B (2.60 mg B kg −1 ) had pronounced effects on various growth, yield, physiological and fiber quality associated traits, as compared to B uptake traits of cotton cultivars.