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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 #297418
Title: Assessing the breeding potential of day-neutral converted racestock germplasm in the Pee Dee cotton germplasm enhancement program

Author
item Campbell, Benjamin - Todd
item GREENE, JEREMY - Clemson University
item WU, JIXIANG - South Dakota State University
item JONES, DON - Cotton, Inc

Submitted to: Euphytica
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/3/2013
Publication Date: 2/3/2014
Citation: Campbell, B.T., Greene, J., Wu, J., Jones, D. 2014. Assessing the breeding potential of day-neutral converted racestock germplasm in the Pee Dee cotton germplasm enhancement program. Euphytica. 195:453-465.

Interpretive Summary: The primitive, upland cotton landrace collection represents one of the untapped genetic resources in cotton breeding programs. Efforts to utilize these resources have been slow, but the development of day-neutral converted germplasm lines offers tremendous potential for broadening the genetic base in upland cotton. In this study, we evaluated the breeding potential of day-neutral converted germplasm lines when crossed to elite germplasm from the high fiber quality Pee Dee germplasm enhancement program. Results suggest that day-neutral converted germplasm lines decrease yield while increasing fiber quality performance. Future efforts that use DNA based selection methods to identify beneficial converted racestock segments will help efforts to more effectively use this untapped genetic variation in contemporary cotton breeding programs.

Technical Abstract: The primitive, upland cotton landrace collection represents one of the untapped genetic resources in cotton breeding programs. Efforts to utilize these resources have been slow, but the development of day-neutral converted germplasm lines offers tremendous potential for broadening the genetic base in upland cotton. Using topcross families involving elite germplasm from the unique Pee Dee germplasm enhancement program, we evaluated the breeding potential of a select number of day-neutral converted racestocks. The mean performance of parental lines and F2 hybrids along with genetic effect estimates indicate that day-neutral converted germplasm lines decreased agronomic performance while increasing fiber quality performance. Results suggest that crosses between day-neutral converted racestocks and elite Pee Dee germplasm lines result in new allelic combinations associated with improved fiber quality performance that interact in a non-additive way. Future efforts that incorporate DNA based selection methods to identify and fix introgressed segments in converted racestocks and their offspring will help efforts to more effectively use genetic variation present in the primitive racestock germplasm resource in contemporary cotton breeding programs.