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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 #144439
Title: COTTON GERMPLASM RESOURCES FOR IMPROVING FIBER QUALITY AND MOLECULAR TO0LS FOR EVALUATION

Author
item Kohel, Russell
item Yu, John
item Percival Jr, Albert
item DONG, J - TAMU
item ZHANG, H - TAMU

Submitted to: Genetic Control of Cotton Fiber and Seed Quality Workshop
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/6/2000
Publication Date: 12/6/2000
Citation: KOHEL, R.J., YU, J., PERCIVAL, JR., A.E., DONG, J., ZHANG, H. COTTON GERMPLASM RESOURCES FOR IMPROVING FIBER QUALITY AND MOLECULAR TOOLS FOR EVALUATION. PROCEEDINGS OF GENETIC CONTROL OF COTTON FIBER AND SEED QUALITY WORKSHOP. 2000. P. 175-180.

Interpretive Summary: The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service maintains the largest cotton germplasm collection in the world. The cotton collection serves as a valuable gene bank for cotton improvement. However, a vast majority of the cotton collection has not been tapped for identification of new genes that might be useful in the development of improved cotton cultivars including fiber quality. This invited paper reviewed the status of the U.S. Cotton Collection and its use in fiber quality improvement. We discussed new molecular tools and descriptors needed for an integrated germplasm evaluation system that would be more powerful to exploit beneficial genes for fiber quality otherwise buried in the cotton germplasm.

Technical Abstract: This paper reviews the current status of cotton fiber quality improvement and proposes proceedures and tools that are needed for future improvement through exploitation of the cotton germplasm collection. We discussed the role of the fiber quality in contemporary cultivars, and cotton breeding efforts to improve fiber quality. The potential of the germplasm resources for improving fiber quality and the problems associated with identifying genes for fiber quality in the germplasm are identified. We propose the use of molecular genetic tools to characterize and utilize the germplasm, and we detail what tools are being developed to accomplish these goals.