International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development

author(s)
B Raja MadhuShekar, B Anil Kumar, K Mamatha, G Narender, M Malla Reddy, M Venu, K Shankar Ganesh, R Roopa and B Vijaykanth

abstract
Cotton a major fibre and cash crop in the country providing livelihood to the farmers plays a vital role to sustain national economy. The yields in red soils where most of the cotton is cultivated in Telangana are low. To replace this anomaly DAATT Centre, Bhuvanagiri conducted demonstrations during Kharif from 2022-23 to 2024-25 in different villages of Bhuvanagiri and Jangaon districts. The main objective was to increase productivity and profitability in poor soils by High Density planting system in Cotton. This system is suitable for mechanical harvesting and other benefits being reduced labour costs, increased input use efficiency, timely harvesting, maintaining cotton quality, and offering the potential to increase productivity and profitability. 80 respondents were selected from the villages in the two districts. 63.75% of the selected respondent farmers were in middle age group. They adopted the recommended package of practices with slight modifications with a high adoption percentage (42.50%). The average yield recorded was 22.91 q ha^-1 in demonstration plot, a 33.50% increase over farmer’s practice (17.16 q ha^-1). 45.00% of the farmers had high level of knowledge on HDPS technology. The demonstrated plots gave higher gross returns, net return with higher benefit cost ratio when compared to farmer’s practice. The study also revealed that there was significant increase in knowledge level of the farmers due to the demonstrations. The results also revealed that the adoption of the high density planting system with full package of practices had significant impact on cotton yield and productivity.