Effects of interspecific chromosome substitution in upland cotton on cottonseed macronutrients

Authors: Bellaloui, Nacer; Saha, Sukumar; Tonos, Jennifer; Scheffler, Jodi; Jenkins, Johnie; McCarty, Jack; STELLY, DAVID - West Texas A & M University

Submitted to: Plants
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2021
Publication Date: 6/7/2021
Citation: Bellaloui, N., Saha, S., Tonos, J.L., Scheffler, J.A., Jenkins, J.N., McCarty Jr, J.C., Stelly, D.M. 2021. Effects of interspecific chromosome substitution in upland cotton on cottonseed macronutrients. Plants. 10(6):1-13. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10061158.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10061158

Interpretive Summary: Nutrients including calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium are essential for crop production and seed quality, and for human nutrition and health. Nutrient deficiencies in soil lead to poor crop quality and human malnutrition. Therefore, identifying novel plant lines that can extract soil nutrients when soil content is low and incorporate them into crop seeds is crucial. The objective of this research was to investigate the effects of chromosome substitution (CS) cotton lines on cottonseed nutrient content for calcium, potassium, magnesium, nitrogen, and phosphorus. The CS lines, which resulted from a cross between cultivated cotton and wild cotton species, have one or more chromosomes from the wild cotton substituted in place of the chromosomes normally found in cultivated cotton. Nine CS lines were grown in two-field experiments at two locations in 2013 in South Carolina, USA; and in 2014 in Mississippi, USA. Controls used were TM-1, the recurrent parent of the CS line, and the cultivar AM UA48. The results showed major variability in nutrients among CS lines and between CS lines and controls. For example, in South Carolina, the mean values showed that five CS lines (CS-T02, CS-T04, CS-T08sh, CS-B02, and CS-B04) had higher calcium levels in seed than controls. CS-MO8sh exhibited the highest potassium concentration (an increase of 29 and 49% over TM-1 and AM UA48, respectively). Similar observation was noticed in Mississippi location. The CS lines with higher desired nutrients can be used as parents in breeding cotton with higher food and feed quality. Improved understanding of the relationships between soil and seed nutrients will aid in developing a good fertilizer management program to maintain higher cottonseed nutrient content.

Technical Abstract: Nutrients, including macronutrients such as Ca, P, K, and Mg are essential for crop production and seed quality, and for human nutrition and health. Macronutrient deficiencies in soil lead to poor crop quality and human malnutrition. Therefore, discovery of novel germplasm with significant variability for macronutrient content in crop seeds is critical. To our knowledge, there is no information available on the effects of chromosome or chromosome arm substitution on cottonseed macronutrient content. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of chromosome or chromosome arm substitution on the variability and content of cottonseed macronutrients Ca, K, Mg, N, P, and S in chromosome substitution lines (CS). Nine chromosome substitution lines were grown in two-field experiments at two locations in 2013 in South Carolina, USA; and in 2014 in Mississippi, USA. Controls used were TM-1, the recurrent parent of the CS line, and the cultivar AM UA48. The results showed major variability in macronutrients among CS lines and between CS lines and controls. For example, in South Carolina, the mean values showed that five CS lines (CS-T02, CS-T04, CS-T08sh, CS-B02, and CS-B04) had higher Ca level in seed than controls. Ca levels in these CS lines varied from 1.88 to 2.63 compared with 1.81 and 1.72 g kg-1 for TM-1 and AMUA48, respectively, with CS-T04 having the highest Ca concentration. CS-MO8sh exhibited the highest K concentration (14.50 g kg-1) an increase of 29 and 49% over TM-1 and AM UA48, respectively. CS-B02, CS-B04, CS-B08sh, CS-M02, CS-M04, CS-M08sh, CS-T02, and CS-T04 had higher Mg concentrations controls. Lines CS-M04 and CS-T04 had higher P concentrations than controls and the other CS lines. Seven out of nine CS lines were higher in S than controls. CS-B08sh, CS-T02, CS-T04, and CS-T08sh had higher N than controls; with CS-T02 being the highest concentration (47.79 g kg-1). CS-B02, CS-B04, CS-B08sh, CS-M02, CS-T08sh, CS-T04, and CS-T02, had higher S than controls. A similar trend was found in MS location. Significant and positive correlations between some macro-nutrients were observed in both locations. This research demonstrated that chromosome substitution resulted in higher seed macro-nutrients in some CS lines, and these CS lines with higher content of macronutrients in can be used as a genetic tool towards QTL identification for desired seed nutrition traits. Also, the CS lines with higher desired macronutrients can be used as parents in breeding for an effective way for Upland cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L improvement by interspecific introgression of desired seed nutrient traits such as Ca, K, P, S, and N. The positive and significant (P=0.0001) correlation of P with Ca; P with Mg; S with P; and S with N will aid in understanding the relationships between nutrients for a good fertilizer management program to maintain higher cottonseed nutrient content.