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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Commodity Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #241311
Title: Fatty acid profiles of cottonseed genotypes from the National Cotton Variety Trials

Author
item Dowd, Michael
item Boykin, Deborah
item Meredith Jr, William
item Campbell, Benjamin - Todd
item BOURLAND, FRED - University Of Arkansas
item GANNAWAY, JOHN - Texas Agricultural Experiment Station
item GLASS, KATHRYN - Auburn University
item ZHANG, JINFA - New Mexico State University

Submitted to: Journal of Cotton Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/28/2010
Publication Date: 8/27/2010
Citation: Dowd, M.K., Boykin, D.L., Meredith Jr, W.R., Campbell, B.T., Bourland, F.M., Gannaway, J.R., Glass, K.M., Zhang, J. 2010. Fatty acid profiles of cottonseed genotypes from the National Cotton Variety Trials. Journal of Cotton Science. 14:64-73.

Interpretive Summary: Fatty acid composition was determined for a number of cotton genotypes. Cotton genotypes from recent years of the National Cotton Variety Trials were studied to observe the range of fatty acid composition present within typical agronomic cotton varieties. Analysis of the variance in the data indicated that there are significant genetic and environment components to the observed variation but little interaction between these factors. Although variability in fatty acid composition was observed and a significant proportion of this variation was associated with genetic effects, the range of variation within this population of plant types was not sufficient to warrant a current breeding program. A more extensive survey of cotton seed fatty acid composition is needed for this purpose. The work should be interest to researchers trying to modify the fatty acid composition of cottonseed oil to improve its marketability.

Technical Abstract: Cottonseed oil fatty acid composition was determined for several cotton genotypes included in the 2006 and 2007 years of the National Cotton Variety Trials. Seed samples were collected from nine environments consisting of six locations, and a total of 35 genotypes were included in the analysis. Three locations and eight genotypes were common in both growing years. The results indicate the fatty acid composition of commercially acceptable cotton genotypes vary modestly—covering a range that is slightly greater than the range specified by the Codex trading standard for cottonseed oil. Analysis of variance, based on a random effects model, indicated that the distributions of most fatty acid components are influenced by environment and genetics, but the interaction of these effects is relatively small. Correlations were found between the relative levels of several major and minor oil components. Many of the observed associations between components appeared to have some foundation with known and proposed fatty acid synthesis pathways. Although these results indicate that breeding cotton for modified oil composition should be feasible, the range of variation observed within this set of genotypes was not sufficient to warrant starting a breeding program. A more extensive survey of cotton seed fatty acid composition will be needed for this purpose.