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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Florence, South Carolina » Coastal Plain Soil, Water and Plant Conservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #345126
Title: Assessing the breeding potential of extra-long staple upland germplasm in a cotton breeding program

Author
item Campbell, Benjamin - Todd
item Hugie, Kari
item WU, JIXIANG - South Dakota State University
item JONES, DON - Cotton, Inc

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/8/2017
Publication Date: 3/15/2018
Citation: Campbell, B.T., Hugie, K.L., Wu, J., Jones, D.C. 2018. Assessing the breeding potential of extra-long staple upland germplasm in a cotton breeding program. Crop Science. 58:1145-1154. https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2017.09.0546.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2017.09.0546

Interpretive Summary: Fiber quality improvement of upland cotton is essential to increase the value and competitiveness of cotton fiber. In this study, we evaluated the breeding potential of extra-long staple (ELS) upland accessions that presumably contain beneficial fiber quality alleles from G. barbadense. As expected, ELS upland accessions produced long fibers with overall excellent mean fiber quality performance. However, ELS upland accessions also transmitted negative effects for lint percent, lint yield, and fiber strength. Results suggest that ELS upland accessions are a good source for improving fiber length but also are often associated with poor lint yield and agronomic performance.

Technical Abstract: Fiber quality improvement of upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is essential to increase the value and competitiveness of cotton fiber. The closely related allotetraploid species G. barbadense has long been targeted as a source of beneficial fiber quality alleles. Although interspecific hybridization between G. hirsutum and G. barbadense results in fertile offspring, cultivar development programs have seen little success using this approach. In this study, we evaluated the breeding potential of extra-long staple (ELS) upland accessions that presumably contain G. barbadense introgressions. As expected, ELS upland accessions produced long fibers with overall excellent mean fiber quality performance. Genetic effect estimates indicated that ELS upland accessions transmitted both additive and non-additive beneficial alleles for fiber length and micronaire. However, ELS upland accessions also transmitted negative effects for lint percent, lint yield, and fiber strength. Results suggest that ELS upland accessions are a good source for improving fiber length but also support the idea that skewed chromatin transmission, often seen in progeny derived from interspecific hybridization, may still proliferate in offspring derived from ELS upland accessions.