Early in the season, Sicot 743B3XF stood out with a better establishment with a consistent stand of 10-12 plants per metre, while the Sicot 748B3F was generally 9-10 plants per metre. The vigour of the Sicot 743B3XF was also notable early on in the seedling stage. The Sicot 743B3XF switched to reproductive growth sooner than the Sicot 748B3F and was generally more consistent in holding fruit early on. The Sicot 748B3F continued to switch between vegetative and reproductive nodes for a week or so, this meant the Sicot 743B3XF accumulated more bolls earlier in the season. The Sicot 748B3F grew more vigorously as the season went on and was slightly taller. Both varieties retained first position fruit well but struggled to hold second position squares at times. At the start of February, both varieties had a primary retention of 95%, while cumulated primary and secondary retention was back to 75%.

Management throughout the season was kept the same between the two varieties. At the end of the season, yield was very similar between the two. This matched what I found with boll counts at the end of the season.

Going forward, Sicot 743B3XF may be added into the regular list of varieties grown on this farm, to replace the previous mainstay of Sicot 748B3F. In the last two years, however, both Siokra 253B3XF and Sicot 761B3XF have performed very well and are likely to be grown in the largest amounts.