Controlling rank growth in cotton
Under certain conditions of high fertility and favorable environmental conditions excessive vegetative growth of cotton results. Mepiquat chloride(1,1,dimethylpiperidinium chloride) applied at the time of flowering can reduce growth by 20-30% (28). Early yield of cotton is often increased by this treatment presumably due to greater light penetration into the canopy, thus allowing fruit set to take place in flowers produced on the lower nodes of the plant Reduced vegetative growth also allows greater coverage of insecticides, fungicides, and defoliants, the latter increasing the efficiency of mechanical harvesting