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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Crop Germplasm Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #302270

Title: Test cross evaluation of upland cotton accessions for selected fiber properties

Author
item BEYER, BENJAMIN - Texas A&M University
item SMITH, C. WAYNE - Texas A&M University
item Percy, Richard
item HAGUE, STEVEN - Texas A&M University
item HEQUET, ERIC - Texas Tech University

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/25/2013
Publication Date: 1/1/2014
Citation: Beyer, B.M., Smith, C.W., Percy, R.G., Hague, S.J., Hequet, E.F. 2014. Test cross evaluation of Upland cotton accessions for selected fiber properties. Crop Science. 54:60-67.

Interpretive Summary: Two types of cotton provide over 98 percent of the cotton to the world market. Upland cotton has the advantage of superior yield and adaptation to a broader range of environments, while pima cotton possesses a superior extra-long staple fiber quality. Currently the world market only rewards the extra-long staple quality in pima cotton, but fiber quality in upland can be improved with the identification of new sources of fiber quality within upland cotton. In this investigation, new sources of upland fiber quality were identified. Use of these new sources of fiber quality improve upland fiber quality in general and provide the opportunity for upland cotton to receive price rewards, should the market recognize the superior quality.

Technical Abstract: Texas A&M AgriLife Research released several upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) germplasm lines that exhibit near extra-long and extra-long staple (ELS) upper half mean length (UHML) fibers, similar to those produced by pima cotton (Gossypium barbadense L.) and significantly longer than those of upland cultivars currently grown in the United States. While present-day global marketing systems do not reward the production of such upland cotton fibers, future competitiveness of upland cotton may depend on availability of such variability. Thirty-six improved upland cotton cultivar accessions from the USDA-ARS Cotton Collection were crossed to two testers to determine if any contained alleles for additional improvement in fiber length or strength parameters of germplasm developed by Texas A&M AgriLife Research. 'Tamcot CAMD-E' was chosen as a standard fiber quality tester and TAM B182-33 ELS was the elite fiber quality tester. The lines, testers, and F1s were grown in Tecoman, Colima, Mexico, and at College Station, TX, in 2010 and at College Station only in 2011. Fiber data were subjected to line × tester analysis. Funtua FT-5 from northern Africa and Stoneville 474 from the United States may harbor additional UHML and length uniformity alleles for improving TAM B182-33 ELS. Phytogen 72 (United States) and BJA 592 (northern Africa) may contain additional alleles to improve fiber bundle strength.