Application of the cottonscope for determining fiber maturity and fineness of an upland cotton MAGIC population

Authors: Kim, Hee-Jin; Delhom, Christopher; Fang, David; Zeng, Linghe; Jenkins, Johnie; McCarty, Jack; JONES, DON - Cotton, Inc

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/5/2020
Publication Date: 8/30/2020
Citation: Kim, H.J., Delhom, C.D., Fang, D.D., Zeng, L., Jenkins, J.N., Mccarty Jr, J.C., Jones, D.C. 2020. Application of the cottonscope for determining fiber maturity and fineness of an upland cotton MAGIC population. Crop Science. 60(5):2266–2279. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20197.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20197

Interpretive Summary: Maturity and fineness are two major properties used in estimating micro-scaled cotton fiber thickness. Cotton researchers have been searching for accurate and efficient ways of measuring degree of cotton fiber thickness due to its important roles in lint yield, fiber quality, and downstream textile performance. The recent development of Cottonscope® instrument has offered an improved way of quantitatively assessing maturity and fineness from reference cotton materials composed of clean and homogenous fibers. However, cotton geneticists and breeders have not adopted the new technology since it has not been tested with experimental genetic materials that consist of a large number of samples with high levels of variations within a sample and among replicates. Thus, we measured a genetic population composed of two biological replicates of 550 recombinant inbred lines using a Cottonscope® instrument in comparison to a conventional Advanced Fiber Information System (AFIS). Comparative analyses showed a correlation of the fineness values, but a discrepancy of the maturity ratio values between these two measurements. The discrepancy was substantially greater with experimental genetic materials as compared with reference materials. Extensive phenotypic analyses suggested that the Cottonscope® technology improved accuracy of maturity measurements from experimental genetic materials and may help interpreting genetic and genomic data related to fiber thickness properties.

Technical Abstract: Maturity and fineness are two major properties used in estimating micro-scaled cotton fiber thickness. Cotton researchers have been searching for accurate and efficient ways of measuring degree of cotton fiber thickness due to its important roles in lint yield, fiber quality, and downstream textile performance. The recent development of Cottonscope® instrument has offered an improved way of quantitatively assessing maturity and fineness from reference cotton materials composed of clean and homogenous fibers. However, cotton geneticists and breeders have not adopted the new technology since it has not been tested with experimental genetic materials that consist of a large number of samples with high levels of variations within a sample and among replicates. Thus, we measured a genetic population composed of two biological replicates of 550 recombinant inbred lines using a Cottonscope® instrument in comparison to a conventional Advanced Fiber Information System (AFIS). Comparative analyses showed a correlation of the fineness values, but a discrepancy of the maturity ratio values between these two measurements. The discrepancy was substantially greater with experimental genetic materials as compared with reference materials. Extensive phenotypic analyses suggested that the Cottonscope® technology improved accuracy of maturity measurements from experimental genetic materials and may help interpreting genetic and genomic data related to fiber thickness properties.