Premature senescence caused by potassium deficiency has been most severe on soils that are considered deficient or marginal in potassium for cotton growth ie. having a soil test result less than 0.4 meq K/lOOg (Kirby and Adams, 1985). There are other factors which can induce potassium deficiency in plant tissues such as heavy fruit load on small plants and plant uptake that is impaired for various reasons. These are the subject of current research by CRDC funded projects and will be discussed in other papers at this conference. This paper will focus on the question of soil deficiency