I keep hearing about high density planting system for cotton with more plants per acre. Does it work in rainfed shallow soil in Beed?
High density planting system (HDPS) packs more plants per acre using close spacing like 60x10 cm or 60x15 cm to get early, compact bolls before terminal moisture stress hits, which suits short and shallow rainfed soils in Marathwada. It works best with a short duration, compact variety rather than a tall spreading hybrid, and usually needs a higher seed rate and a growth regulator to keep plants short. The aim is to harvest most of the crop in fewer pickings and escape late season pink bollworm. It is not automatically better everywhere, so try it on a small area first and compare cost and yield against your normal spacing. Get the right variety and exact spacing for your soil from Dr PDKV or VNMKV or your local KVK before scaling up.
I tried HDPS on one acre near Georai. Picking finished faster and bollworm damage was less because the crop closed early, but I had to manage plant height carefully. Good for shallow land.
One thing I learned the hard way is that the variety matters more than anything. I first tried HDPS spacing with a tall spreading hybrid and the plants overlapped and lodged badly. The next year a compact short duration type at close spacing worked much better on my shallow murrum soil.
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