Chemical Composition of Cottonseed Affected by Cropping Management Practices.

Cottonseed is a valuable raw material for a range of food, animal feed, and industrial (such as adhesives) products. Chemical composition is one of the critical parameters to evaluate cottonseed's quality and potential end use. However, the information on the impacts of cropping management practices on cottonseed chemical composition is limited. In this study, we determined the contents of 13 elements in cottonseed harvested under different fertilization managements with or without wheat cover crop. The two-year data are not exactly same, but show a same trend. The cover crop management did not show significant impacts on the chemical composition. Compared to no fertilizer control, both inorganic fertilizer and poultry litter altered the levels of Ca, Mg, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn and P, but not As, Cd, Na, Pb, S and Zn. However, the impact of application methods (broadcast and subsurface band) and time (fall and spring) of poultry litter was not obvious. Specifically, the contents of Cu, Mg, and P were high in cottonseed with poultry liter fertilization, but low in cottonseed with inorganic fertilizer, compared to the control cottonseed (no fertilizer). The data of the three elements were also highly correlated (P<0.01), indicating the three elements were co-accumulated in cottonseed, probably in the metal organic P forms, due to poultry litter fertilization.