THE LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY OF COTTON AND OTHER CROP PRODUCTION SYSTEMS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES REQUIRES THE DEVELOPMENT OF NON-CHEMICAL WEED MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGIES THAT CAN BE INTEGRATED WITH CURRENT HERBICIDE-BASED WEED MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES. PRELIMINARY RESEARCH USING DEFC HAS SHOWN SUCCESSFUL TERMINATION OF SEVERAL WEED SPECIES, THEREFORE THIS RESEARCH AIMS TO EXPLORE AND DETERMINE THE ABILITY OF DEFC TO CONTROL PALMER AMARANTH IN COTTON PRODUCTION SYSTEMS.THE LONG-TERM GOAL OF THE PROJECT IS TO DETERMINE THE SUITABILITY OFDIRECTED ENERGY FLORA CONTROL (DEFC) AS A NOVEL NON-CHEMICAL WEED MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUE THAT CAN MITIGATE HERBICIDE RESISTANCE, PRESERVE CONSERVATION TILLAGE SYSTEMS, AND REDUCE RELIANCE ON HERBICIDES. TO THAT END, THE OBJECTIVES FOR THE PROPOSED WORK ARE TO:CONDUCT FIELD EXPERIMENTS TO EVALUATE THE USE OF DEFC FOR PALMER AMARANTH CONTROL, SPECIFICALLY (A) REQUIREMENTS FOR ABOVE AND BELOW GROUND WEED CONTROL, (B) REQUIREMENTS TO PREVENT WEED SEED GERMINATION, (C) ABOVE AND BELOW GROUND COTTON INJURY, (D) EFFECTIVENESS OF ONE VS. TWO APPLICATIONS TO EMERGED WEEDS, AND (E) ENERGY COSTS;ASSESS FARMER PERCEPTION OF DEFC AND IDENTIFY FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THEIR WILLINGNESS TO ADOPT NOVEL WEED MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES;ORGANIZE EXTENSION ACTIVITIES TO DISSEMINATE INFORMATION ABOUT DEFC.THIS PROPOSAL IS SUBMITTED IN RESPONSE TO COMMODITY BOARD CO-FUNDING TOPIC 15 (DEVELOP ADVANCED INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGIES AND/OR TECHNIQUES THAT WILL COMPLEMENT AND PRESERVE CURRENT CROP PROTECTION TECHNOLOGIES AND PRODUCTS FOR MANAGING DISEASE, WEED, INSECT, AND NEMATODE (PESTS) THREATS IN COTTON, WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY REDUCING THE RELIANCE ON CONVENTIONAL PESTICIDES.