Registration of three cotton germplasm lines with extremely high fiber strength derived from crosses between Upland cotton and diploid Gossypium species

Authors: Zeng, Linghe; SACKS, ERIK - University Of Illinois; Fang, David; ZHANG, JINFA - New Mexico State University

Submitted to: Journal of Plant Registrations
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/20/2024
Publication Date: 2/28/2025
Citation: Zeng, L., Sacks, E.J., Fang, D.D., Zhang, J. 2025. Registration of three cotton germplasm lines with extremely high fiber strength derived from crosses between Upland cotton and diploid Gossypium species. Journal of Plant Registrations. 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/plr2.20422.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/plr2.20422

Interpretive Summary: Genetic diversity for fiber quality in Upland cotton is limited due to the genetic bottleneck that occurred during early domestication and selections for high yield and earliness. Transfer of genes from wild cotton may be an effective approach to enrich genetic diversity for fiber quality traits. In this study, crosses were made among Upland cotton, Asiatic cotton, and New World wild cotton and hybrids were produced from three cotton species. Since 2008, these hybrids were developed, selected for agronomic performance and fiber quality, and tested in fields at Stoneville and different locations across the U.S. Cotton Belt. The three lines, MD24-16-27, MD24-16-42, and MD24-16-141, were released to the public for their extremely high fiber strength which exceeded all high fiber quality checks in the tests. The release of MD24-16-27, MD24-16-42, and MD24-16-141 will provide cotton breeders opportunities to improve fiber strength and make the U.S. cotton more competitive in the global market. These lines will also provide molecular scientists opportunities to identify genes contributing to high fiber strength and understand the molecular basis for high fiber strength.

Technical Abstract: MD24-16-27, MD24-16-42, and MD24-16-141 (Reg. No. ???, PI ???) are noncommercial breeding lines of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) released by the USDA-ARS at Stoneville, MS in 2024. Tetraploid hybrids of tri-species, G. arboreum L/G. hirsutum/G. aridum (Rose & StandI.) Skov. (AADD) was derived from crosses between G. arboreum (AA) and a hexaploid bridge line, G. hirsutum/G. aridum (AADDDD) followed by two backcrosses to G. hirsutum MD 51ne and one backcross to G. hirsutum MD 25. MD24-16-27, MD24-16-42, and MD24-16-141 were selected in F5 progenies and evaluated at Stoneville, MS in 2017, 2018, and 2019 and at five locations across the US Cotton Belt in 2020 in Regional High Quality (RHQ) test. In all tests, the three lines had significantly higher fiber strength compared with checks, 5% to 25% higher than the high fiber quality check, MD 15, in tests of 2017-2019, and 10% to 18% higher than commercial checks in the 2020 RHQ test. Other fiber properties including fiber length, uniformity, elongation, and micronaire were in acceptable ranges. Lint yield of the three lines were low to moderate compared with the high yielding checks. The three lines had significantly different fiber strength and lint yield among themselves. MD24-16-141 had high fiber strength and acceptable lint yield with intermediate resistance to Fusarium wilt race 4 (FOV4). This is the first report of an Upland cotton line with resistance to FOV4. These three germplasm lines can be used by cotton breeders for genetic improvement of yield, fiber strength, and resistance to FOV4 simultaneously. This line is registered with another two sister lines and can be used by breeders for genetic improvement of fiber strength and by molecular scientists for identification of high fiber strength genes and their genomic locations.