The History of Blackland Research Center

Aerial view of headquarters area of the Blackland Station.

A combination of nitrogen and phosphorus has increased cotton yields, especially following grain sorghum. Potash alone or in combinations with nitrogen and phosphorus does not result in additional increase. Recommended rates are 15 to 30 pounds of nitrogen (N) and approximately 30 pounds of phosphorus per acre. In rotations where cotton follows oats and clover fertilized with phosphate, additional fertilizer has not been needed.

Cultivation with a rotary hoe is helpful in controlling weeds if rain comes before cotton is up. It controls seedling weeds and breaks surface crusts. After cotton is established, weeds are controlled with a cultivator or by oiling with special shoe attachments. Hoeing or spot-oiling controls weeds later in the season.

Research is in progress to develop improved and more economical chemical and mechanical controls of Johnsongrass and weeds.

Proper drying of cotton leaves with desiccants, such as pentachlorophenol and arsenic acid, has proved dependable for stripper harvesting. Results from true defoliants have not been consistent. Tests show desiccants should not be applied before 75 percent of the bolls are open, and stripping should not be attempted when the leaves are moist. Stripper harvesting saves farmers $15 to $25 per bale over hand harvesting. Research also is being directed toward more efficient chemical defoliation.

Weather recording devices used at the Blackland Station.

During most years, early-season insect control is necessary to produce high yields of cotton. Late-season treatments are based on intensity of infestation. Insect control is done according to recommendations by entomologists of the A&M College of Texas and the USDA.

Cotton root rot, caused by the soil fungus, Phymatotrichum omnivorum, is one of the most serious diseases of cotton in Texas. Although losses from this plant disease are confined largely to the Blacklands, it causes serious damage in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and El Paso region. Nearly all tap-rooted plants are subject to attack. Most types of orchard trees, vegetables, legumes such as sweetclover and alfalfa, and trees and shrubs used for landscaping also are susceptible. Because of its manner of attack, root rot is exceedingly difficult to control.

Agronomic practices which help avoid or reduce root rot are: early maturity, crop rotation, building-up of soil organic matter, early land preparation for soil drying and the proper use of fertilizers and soil fungicides. However, none has given adequate control. A more fundamental type of study is in progress, aimed at understanding the relationship among the root rot fungus, soil microbes and soil organic matter, and more effective control of the disease.

Control of damping-off diseases of seedling cotton is important in yield and mechanical harvest. Tests with a large number of commercial fungicides show seed or within-furrow treatment helps assure dense stands of vigorous plants.

Corn breeding research is aimed at developing inbred lines which will perform well in hybrid combinations in Central Texas.

The testing program includes dent corn hybrids, single crosses and preliminary tests. Personnel from this station also supervise various types of corn performance tests at Holland, Plano and McGregor.

Dent corn hybrids which have performed best over several years include Texas 28 and 30, which have yellow grain and Texas 17W, an early maturing hybrid with white grain.

Newly released Texas 36A offers promise as a good early hybrid.

Popcorn and sweet corn tests also are grown. Sweet corn must have considerable resistance to earworms. Calumet appears outstanding.

Production experiments have been conducted to study the effect of certain cropping system-treatment combinations on the yields of corn. Definite responses to nitrogen, rotation, plant spacing, irrigation and heat have been established.

Large acreages of small grains are grown in the Blacklands. The testing on the Blackland Station seeks to determine the best varieties for grain, hay, grazing and use in conservation rotations for the area, and is part of the overall state and federal research on small grain improvement.

Yields are 1 to 1.5 tons of air-dry forage per acre during dry years, but are more in wet years.

Yield increases have been obtained from the application of fertilizers to oats, especially following grain sorghum. The most economical rate has been about 30 pounds each of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus per acre.

Grain sorghum breeding, recently begun on the Blackland Station, is aimed primarily at developing head-smut-resistant lines and hybrids and also hybrids which are shorter and will resist lodging. Some genetic and physiological studies are to be initiated.

Over the past 4 years, RS-610 has had outstanding yields here, as in other areas, but this hybrid is very susceptible to sorghum head smut. A group of experimental hybrids resistant to head smut, and 8 to 12 inches shorter than the presently grown hybrids, are being tested here and in other locations over Texas.

Grain sorghum management studies include fertilization, date and rate of planting, row spacings, weed control, crop rotations and irrigation. Maximum yields and conservation are obtained from March plantings. Where weeds are controlled, higher yields have been obtained with 20 or 30-inch row spacings than with 10 or 40-inch rows. Combinations of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer have given good yield responses, especially where grain sorghum is grown repeatedly on the same land. Highest yields have been obtained with irrigation and following phosphated sweetclover. Shredding and prompt plowing to kill regrowth are necessary to assure high yields from crops grown following sorghum.

Hubam and bienniaI sweetclovers are planted with small grains for forage, seed or soil improvement, and to determine the effects of sweetclover on oat grain and forage yields and more about the root systems of the annual and biennial types of legumes. In cropping systems and in field grazing studies, the effects of sweetclovers and other legumes also are being evaluated in relation to soils, moisture, fertilization and the performance of following crops.

Silage varieties best adapted to this area include Honey, Sargo, Silo King, Tracy, Wiley and Sumac, producing 5 to 6 tons per acre, and NK320, Texas 9917, NK x 3058, Lindsey H5F, Texas 9910 and Beefbuilder, producing 7 to 8 tons, the best hybrids.

Sudangrass is an important summer forage plant for the Blackland area.

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April 17, 1997
Dr. Dennis Hoffman, Project Leader
Steve Dagitz, Webmaster