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Submitted to: Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station Research Report
Publication Type: Experiment Station Publication Acceptance Date: 12/1/2004 Publication Date: 12/1/2004 Citation: McCarty Jr., J.C., Jenkins, J.N. 2004. Primitive cotton germplasm: yield and fiber traits for twenty-one day-neutral accessions. Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station Research Report 23(14). 6 p. Interpretive Summary: The improvement of cotton relies on the introduction of desirable traits. The collection of primitive cotton accessions is a source for useful traits; however, the start of flowering for many of the accessions is day-length dependent. The short-day photoperiod flowering response is a major hurdle to the utilization of their traits for cultivar improvement. A backcross breeding method was used to convert accessions to day-neutrality, which do not require short-days to initiate flowers. Twenty-one day-neutral lines have been evaluated and useful genetic variability has been measured for agronomic and fiber traits. The day-neutral accessions are now available for use in breeding programs for cultivar development and to expand genetic variability. Technical Abstract: The improvement of cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., relies on the introduction of desirable traits from germplasm resources. Such a resource is the collection of primitive cotton accessions which contain useful genetic variability; however, many of the accessions are photoperiodic. The short-day photoperiod flowering response is a major hurdle to their utilization in cotton breeding and research programs. Utilizing a backcross breeding approach accessions have been converted to day-neutral flowering habit. Twenty-one day-neutral lines have been evaluated and useful genetic variability has been measured for agronomic and fiber traits. The day-neutral accessions are now available for use in breeding programs for cultivar development and to expand genetic variability. |
