Response of Yield and Yield Component of Cotton to Stress Modulator in the Saline Condition in Early and Late Planting Dates

Nowadays, the use of stress modulators as a useful and low-cost solution to reduce the effects of environmental stress has been considered by researchers. In order to investigate the effects of stress modulator’s foliar application in different planting dates on yield and yield components of cotton, an experiment has been conducted as split-plot factorial in a randomized complete block design with three replications in Sabzevar Islamic Azad University in 2017 and 2018. Factors include planting date (early and late) as the main plot and type of stress modulator (control, salicylic acid (SA) 2 and 4 mM, glycine betaine (GB) 50 and 100 mM and sodium nitroprusside (SNP) 100 and 200 μM) as the sub-plots. Foliar application of 2 mM SA in the first year and 4mM SA in the second year produce the highest number of bolls per plant (10.1 and 7.58, respectively). In contrast, 4 mM SA spraying in early planting date increases seed cotton yield (45.6%), but in late planting date, seed cotton yield does not respond to the stress modulator application. In the first year, 100 μM SNP foliar application has the highest lint yield in both early and late planting dates, but in the second year, 2 mM SA foliar application produce higher lint yields. Overall, the results of this experiment show that the highest yield of cotton in saline conditions are obtained in sowing at the appropriate date and foliar application of 4 mM salicylic acid.