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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Florence, South Carolina » Coastal Plain Soil, Water and Plant Conservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #355470
Research Project: Effective Cotton Genetics and Management Practices for Improved Cotton Quality and Production

Location: Coastal Plain Soil, Water and Plant Conservation Research

Title: Assessing the breeding potential of thirteen day-neutral landrace accessions in an upland cotton breeding program

Author
item Campbell, Benjamin - Todd
item HUGIE, KARI - Former ARS Employee
item Hinze, Lori
item WU, J - South Dakota State University
item JONES, DON - Cotton, Inc

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/13/2019
Publication Date: 6/27/2019
Citation: Campbell, B.T., Hugie, K.L., Hinze, L.L., Wu, J., Jones, D.C. 2019. Assessing the breeding potential of thirteen day-neutral landrace accessions in an upland cotton breeding program. Crop Science. 59:1469-1478.

Interpretive Summary: The primitive, upland cotton landrace collection represents one of the untapped genetic resources in cotton breeding programs. Efforts to utilize these resources have been slow. In this study, we evaluated a number of naturally occurring day neutral landrace gentoypes for their breeding potential when crossed to elite upland germplasm lines and cultivars. The mean performance of parental lines and hybrids along with genetic effect estimates indicate that naturally occurring day neutral landrace genotypes provided average agronomic performance while increasing fiber quality performance. The successful utilization of landrace gentoypes is needed to expand the cotton genetic base by increasing genetic diversity.

Technical Abstract: The primitive, upland cotton landrace collection represents one of the untapped genetic resources in cotton breeding programs. Primarily due to their photoperiodic nature, efforts to utilize these resources have been slow. To complement efforts deployed to develop day-neutral converted germplasm lines, we identified a number of naturally occurring day neutral landrace gentoypes and evaluated their breeding potential when crossed to elite upland germplasm lines and cultivars. The mean performance of parental lines and F2 hybrids along with genetic effect estimates indicate that naturally occurring day neutral landrace genotypes provided average agronomic performance while increasing fiber quality performance. Results suggest that crosses derived from naturally occurring day neutral genotypes and elite upland lines result in new allelic combinations associated that interact in a both an additive and non-additive way. However, it appears that several naturally occurring day neutral genotypes transmit negatively correlated alleles for agronomic performance and fiber quality that often times display opposite additive and non-additive effects. These negatively correlated allele combinations present a major challenge for cotton breeding programs. Future efforts that determine the percentage of ‘new’ alleles present in the landrace germplasm, along with innovative breeding methods focused on efficiently capturing beneficial alleles, are needed to expand the cotton genetic base.