Location: Crop Germplasm Research
Project Number: 3091-21000-048-012-N
Project Type: Non-Funded Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2025
End Date: Aug 31, 2027
Objective:
Many of the wild cotton accessions in the National Cotton Germplasm Collection (COT) are day-length sensitive for flowering. Over the course of several decades, Dr. Jack McCarty crossed the wild lines with a day-neutral accession ‘DP61’. Progeny from these initial crosses were repeatedly backcrossed to the wild source while selecting for early flowering (i.e. Mississippi delta). These converted lines, originally photoperiod-sensitive, represent diverse genetic backgrounds and have been made suitable for temperate field trials by introgressing the day-neutral trait. Since they are day-neutral, the lines are a treasure trove of accessible alleles for improvement of modern cotton germplasm. The Objective of this collaboration is to evaluate, increase, and further select (or improve) the day-neutral lines in order to publicly release these germplasm resources to the cotton research community.
Approach:
The objective of this study is to evaluate agronomic performance and fiber quality of an initial set of the day-neutral lines in public-private collaboration. Seed from these day-neutral lines will be planted alongside appropriate controls in replicated experimental trials under field conditions. The cooperator will follow standard agronomic practices, and key traits such as flowering time, plant architecture, boll retention, yield components, and fiber characteristics will be measured. Genomic sequence data will be generated of the evaluated lines and provided to the USDA (in order to make such data available to the public).