Technical Abstract: Use of chemical mutagenesis has been highly successful in most major crops but has only recently been used in improving cotton. The objective of this research was to develop ‘naked-tufted’ seed mutants and to incorporate this genetic trait into cotton to enhance crop quality and reduce processing costs. In 1997, six commercial varieties were treated with 2.45% v/v ethyl methane sulfonate. In 1999, three M3 plants from Atlas, Tejas, and SC 9023 were identified that had partially naked seed coats. The trait was stabilized through individual plant selections from 2000 to 2004. During 2005 and 2006, the homozygous naked-tufted M8 mutant lines were evaluated for lint yield, lint percent, fibers per seed, fibers per square mm, fiber quality, seed oil content, ginning efficiency and yarn spinning performance. Overall, the naked-tufted seed mutants gave lower lint yield, lower fiber per seed, lower lint per seed, and lower fibers per square mm as compared to the their original fuzzy parents. The lint turnout from the mutants was similar to the fuzzy parents and the commercial cultivars. The naked-tufted seed mutants had higher seed oil percent, 6-17% lower short fiber counts, significantly reduced seed coat neps (37 – 42%), higher elongation and yarn tenacity than their fuzzy counterparts. Preliminary data also shows that the naked-tufted mutants require less energy to gin.