Commercial production of Pima cotton (Gossypium barbadense L.) in the United States is currently limited to the western United States and West Texas. Before the 1930s, Pima cotton was produced in coastal regions of the southeast United States. However, in an effort to escape yield and economic losses caused by the boll weevil, which invaded the United States in the 1920s, production of long-season Pima cotton was eliminated and shifted to shorter-season upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). Today, the value of Pima cotton fiber is nearly double that of upland cotton. We hypothesized that Pima cotton could be successfully cultivated in the southeast United States because of the eradication of the boll weevil, alongside improvements in genetics and production practices. We evaluated the agronomic performance, fiber quality, and net economic return of 48 Pima genotypes in field trials conducted during 2018 and 2019 in Florence, SC, compared with two popular commercial upland cultivars. We also evaluated the impact of the ginning method (saw vs. roller) on fiber quality. On average, in comparison with upland cotton, the lint yield of Pima genotypes was reduced by half. However, most of the Pima genotypes produced higher-quality fibers compared with the upland checks. Surprisingly, the ginning method appeared to have little impact on fiber quality. Net return analysis revealed no significant differences among several of the higher-yielding, higher-quality Pima genotypes and the upland genotypes in this study, indicating that the reintroduction of a Pima production system in the southeast United States may be feasible.

中文翻译：

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美国东南部皮马棉的产量性能和纤维品质

美国皮马棉 ( Gossypium barbadense L.) 的商业生产目前仅限于美国西部和德克萨斯州西部。1930 年代之前，美国东南部沿海地区生产比马棉。然而，为了逃避 1920 年代入侵美国的棉铃象鼻虫造成的产量和经济损失，长季皮马棉的生产被淘汰并转向短季陆地棉（Gossypium hirsutumL.）。今天，皮马棉纤维的价值几乎是陆地棉的两倍。我们假设，由于棉铃象鼻虫的根除以及遗传和生产实践的改进，比马棉可以在美国东南部成功种植。我们在 2018 年和 2019 年在南卡罗来纳州佛罗伦萨进行的田间试验中评估了 48 种皮马基因型的农艺性能、纤维质量和净经济回报，并与两种流行的商业高地栽培品种进行了比较。我们还评估了轧花方法（锯与辊）对纤维质量的影响。平均而言，与陆地棉相比，皮马基因型的皮棉产量减少了一半。然而，与高地检查相比，大多数皮马基因型产生的纤维质量更高。出奇，轧花方法似乎对纤维质量几乎没有影响。净收益分析显示，本研究中几种高产、高质量的皮马基因型与高地基因型之间没有显着差异，表明在美国东南部重新引入皮马生产系统可能是可行的。