Segmented picking – how is it done and what does it tell us?

Home » Segmented picking – how is it done and what does it tell us?

Segmented picking – how is it done and what does it tell us?

Apr 28, 2020

At this time of the season, the CSD Extension & Development Team are busy doing their final assessments on variety trial and Ambassador fields. We’re sometimes asked what exactly this entails and how is the data useful? The final ‘End of Season’ assessment measures height, nodes, retention, final boll numbers and boll weights. All very useful data, but the interesting stuff really comes from the segmented pick.

The segmented pick is completed on the Ambassador varieties, as well as any new or experimental varieties. As the name would suggest, we handpick 3 metres of cotton, segmenting the bolls in 4 node sections, first positions, second and subsequent positions, top fruit and vegetative branch fruit. 

The beauty of this data is that it tells us exactly where the yield has come from in that crop. Which tells us how the crop has grown, how it’s responded to climatic conditions, water availability, insect pressure or any other stress it might encounter over the season. For example, this year we experienced an extended period of cloudy, wet and humid weather, which resulted in significant fruit shed on the lower fruiting branches. So we’re expecting to see a larger portion of the yield in the higher nodes this year as the crop compensated late by putting on a larger top crop.

Another advantage of having this data is that we can look back on the Ambassador Network data of previous years and average out where most of our yield is coming from. This tells us where our efforts and resources are best concentrated. For example, comparing high yielding crops with lower yields has shown that they have more bolls at the top of the plant, from fruiting branches 9 to 13+. What we can learn from this is that it pays to finish off the crop as best you can, and if conditions allow, to chase those top bolls and allow them to mature to maximise yield.

With segmented picking data still rolling in this season, it remains to be seen how much yield from lower in the plant the cloudy wet weather of February has claimed. Keep an eye on your email and the CSD website for results of the segmented picking this season.