Variety Improvement

Financial support of basic and applied research continues with our overall aim to improve lint yield, fiber quality, and stress tolerance. Sequencing, assembly, and annotation of the diploid D5 progenitor genome, Gossypium raimondii, was published in Nature on December 20, 2012. This is the first cotton centric paper in this prestigious journal in over 50 years. A draft genome sequence of Gossypium arboreum was also recently assembled and annotated. Information gleaned from these efforts will help scientists sequence Upland cotton, Gossypium hirsutum, the tetraploid AD genome. Ultimately these efforts will identify genes controlling agronomically important traits of interest and allow them to be more efficiently utilized in modern cotton breeding programs. We continue to support phenotypic improvement programs across the Cotton Belt. Among the scientists we support, some concentrate on germplasm enhancement to improve yield and fiber characteristics while others develop elite varieties for commercial sale. A concerted effort initiated in 2008 aims to produce breeder seed for conventional varieties which are competitive with commercial checks for yield and superior for fiber quality. The first variety commercialized under this program was UA48 from the University of Arkansas. It has exceptional fiber quality exhibited in multi-year yarn spinning trials.