Specialists Speaking
Ben McKnight / TEXAS
Looking forward to the 2026 growing season, perhaps the most important decision growers will make about next year’s crop is the varieties they will plant and manage for the remainder of the season. With so many varieties to choose from, this decision is not necessarily an easy one to make. Fortunately, there are resources available to growers that will provide useful information to consider when making their decision on varieties to plant.
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service annually conducts several cotton variety trials across the cotton-producing regions of the state. All these regional RACE trial results can be found at https://varietytesting.tamu.edu/cotton/. By the time you are reading this, results from 2025 cotton variety testing will be published at this link. I encourage growers to look at the previous year’s results to assist with variety decision making for the upcoming year.
Lastly, there are many different trait packages available in commercial cotton varieties, which will serve as the foundation for how pest management programs are structured and implemented. Consider some of the most yield-limiting factors on your farm and weigh the benefits that certain traits may bring to the table. For example, if nematode pressure is a yield-limiting factor on your farm, there are now several nematode-resistant commercial varieties that may be a suitable variety for your operation. If bacterial blight is a yield-limiting factor, a primary consideration of variety selection should be bacterial blight resistance. Trait packages in modern commercial cotton varieties can be a valuable tool to protect your crop from yield-robbing pests, but yield potential and fiber quality characteristics should still remain important considerations when making variety decisions. ∆
Ben McKnight / TEXAS