Location: Crop Genetics Research
Project Number: 6066-21000-053-004-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Aug 15, 2022
End Date: Aug 14, 2027
Objective:
1. Evaluate environmental influence on agronomic performance of cotton germplasm lines.
2. Evaluate drought tolerance in cotton germplasm.
Approach:
Objective 1 – Selected cotton Recombinant Inbred Lines (RILs) derived from 5 generations of random mating (RM5) will be compared with check lines, RILs from zero generation (RM0) and one generation (RM1) of random mating, for yield and fiber quality. One hundred fifty lines of each treatment will be grown in Las Cruces, New Mexico and Stoneville, Mississippi, in two years in a split plot design with two replicates. Treatments of different random mating generations are main plot effects and genotypes are subplot effects. A total of 900 plots will be grown in a field at Las Cruces for two years. Twenty-five naturally open bolls will be collected by hand from each plot and boll samples are ginned using a saw gin at Las Cruces. The remaining bolls in each plot will be harvested using a mechanical picker. Ginning and yield data will be submitted to Stoneville. Fiber samples of each plot will be prepared at Las Cruces and submitted to Fiber and Polymer Research Institute for fiber quality measurements billing to Stoneville. Yield and fiber quality of different fiber properties will be compared among treatments for degrees of negative associations between yield and fiber quality.
Objective 2 – RM5 cotton germplasm in Objective 1 will be grown at Las Cruces under different irrigation schemes to evaluate agronomic performance under drought conditions. One hundred fifty RILs of RM5 will be grown in a split plot design with 2-4 replicates at Las Cruces for two years. Boll samples collection and yield harvest will be made as described in Objective 1. Fiber samples will be prepared at Las Cruces and submitted to the Texas lab for fiber quality measurements at cost of Stoneville. Drought tolerant RILS will be selected for further genomic studies on abiotic stress.
