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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Mississippi State, Mississippi » Crop Science Research Laboratory » Genetics and Sustainable Agriculture Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #223344
Title: Genetic changes in plant growth and their associations with chromosomes from Gossypium hirsutum L. in G. hirsutum L.

Author
item WU, JIXIANG - MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIV
item McCarty, Jack
item Saha, Sukumar
item Jenkins, Johnie
item Hayes, Russell - Russ

Submitted to: Genetica
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/20/2008
Publication Date: 7/1/2009
Citation: Wu, J., McCarty Jr., J.C., Saha, S., Jenkins, J.N., Hayes, R.W. 2009. Genetic Changes in Plant Growth and their Associations with Chromosomes from Gossypium hirsutum L. in G. hirsutum L. Genetica. 137:56-66.

Interpretive Summary: Cotton plant growth is important as it supports the development of squares, flowers, and bolls. With the use of a statistical model, we investigated 14 cotton chromosome substitution lines and their chromosome-specific F2 hybrids for genetic changes in plant growth. Changes in plant height, number of mainstem nodes, and internode length were measured during the primary flowering time in two environments. The changes in additive and dominance variances for the three time-specific traits were determined. Additive effects for the three traits were a key genetic component after initial flowering occurred in the field. Time-specific genetic variance components were also detected where phenotypic values observed at time t were conditioned on the events occurring at time t-1, demonstrating new genetic variations arising during plant growth. Results further revealed that plant height and number of nodes, and plant height and internode length shared some common influence due to additive effects during plant development. With the comparative analyses, chromosomes associated with the genetic changes in plant growth were detected. These results should add new understanding of the genetics underlying the time-specific traits studied.

Technical Abstract: Cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., plant growth is an important time-specific agronomic character that supports the development of squares, flower production, boll retention, and yield. With the use of a mixed linear model approach, we investigated 14 cotton chromosome substitution lines and their chromosome-specific F2 hybrids for genetic changes in plant growth that was measured during the primary flowering time for two environments. The changes in additive and dominance variances for three time-specific traits, plant height, number of mainstem nodes, and internode length were reported, showing that additive effects for these three traits were a key genetic component after initial flowering occurred in the field. Time-specific genetic variance components were also detected where phenotypic values observed at time t were conditioned on the events occurring at time t-1, demonstrating new genetic variations arising at several time intervals during cotton plant growth. Results also revealed that plant height and number of mainstem nodes, and plant height and internode length shared some common influence due to additive effects during plant development. With the comparative analyses, chromosomes associated with the genetic changes in plant growth were detected. These results should add new understanding of the genetics underlying these three time-specific traits in cotton.