Cotton production is labour intensive in almost all the developing countries where it is picked by hand. In recent times, due to acute labour shortage, mechanized harvesting is gaining momentum. Mechanized harvesting requires the application of defoliants, which reduces the cost of labour used for picking cotton and maximum cotton can be picked in a single pick. Farmers can go for next crop due to earliness in cotton and get benefit of two crops instead of one single long duration crop. Researchers have conducted various studies on defoliation in cotton using different chemicals and different defoliation methods. In this concern, defoliants and their time of application influence on growth, yield and defoliation percentage of cotton is provided in this overview.

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