PENTIA ™ PLANT GROWTH REGULATOR - 2003-2004 FIELD PERFORMANCE.

Pentia™ plant regulator (mepiquat pentaborate) was introduced into the cotton market in 2003 and offers many advantages over mepiquat chloride based plant growth regulators. These advantages include; improved consistency, increased uptake (quicker rainfastness), improved 1^st & 2^nd position boll set & retention, enhanced earliness and increased yield. Large scale field trials where conducted across the cotton belt in 2003 & 2004 to compare Pentia to mepiquat chloride based plant growth regulators. Approximately 87 side-by-side trials were conducted in 2003 and approximately 50 replicated strip trials were conducted in 2004. Data collected from these trials included number of 1^st & 2^nd position bolls, number of open 1^st & 2^nd position bolls & cotton lint yield. Pentia plant regulator provided a 5.4% increase nationally in 1^st & 2^nd position boll set as compared to mepiquat chloride bases compounds. Earliness was also enhanced with Pentia with a national average of 15.5% more open bolls. Pentia increased lint yield as compared to the mepiquat chloride based compounds nationally by 5.2% or 63 lbs/A. In these trials, Pentia consistently out-performed mepiquat chloride based compounds. Cotton treated with Pentia had the higher yield in 72% of the trials and increased boll set and retention in 67% of the trials. Earliness (# of open bolls) was increased 78% of the time with Pentia over mepiquat chloride based compounds. Pentia helped enable growers to maximize their return on investment by providing advantages in consistency, uptake (rainfastness), boll set, earliness and yield. Pentia™ is a trademark of BASF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]