DEVELOPMENT OF GENETICALLY IMPROVED COTTON GERMPLASM/CULTIVARS

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: NEW
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1012279
• Project No.: TEX0-1-6223
• Project Start Date: Feb 21, 2017
• Project End Date: Feb 6, 2022

Project Director
Smith, C.

Recipient Organization
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
750 AGRONOMY RD STE 2701
COLLEGE STATION,TX 77843-0001

Performing Department
Soil & Crop Sciences

Non Technical Summary
Changes in cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., spinning technology, competition from manmade fibers, and globalization of cotton production and processing have increased demand for improved cotton fiber quality. The desired staple, or fiber length, for U.S. cotton traditionally has been 27.0 mm (34 staple = 34/32 of an inch), which is lower than the international base staple length of 27.8 mm (Braden and Smith, 2004). Along with the increased international base for staple length, processors desire greater strength, decreased short fiber content, more uniform fiber length distributions, and narrower micronaire range to supply ever increasing processing speeds and rigor. With increasing export of U.S. cotton and advances in spinning technology, improvement of fiber quality is essential for competitiveness of upland cotton produced in the United States. No commercial cultivars currently grown possess the combination of agronomic, fiber quality, and stress resistance traits preferred in an ideal cultivar and it is unlikely that such a cultivar ever will be developed, especially considering the dynamic nature of cotton production technology and end-use requirements. Nevertheless, public research agencies bear the responsibility for developing superior germplasm with new and unusual combinations of fiber properties, morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics that will enhance the stability and profitability of cotton production and manufacturing. This project aims to develop better parental stocks of upland cotton that can be used to develop new and improved varieties that are more competitive with man made fibers for the development of better clothing and other textiles. We will develop and make available germplasm lines that have exceptional fiber quality that exceeds that thought possible only a decade ago.

Animal Health Component

0%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

100%

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
201	1710	1081	100%

Knowledge Area
201 - Plant Genome, Genetics, and Genetic Mechanisms;

Subject Of Investigation
1710 - Upland cotton;

Field Of Science
1081 - Breeding;

Keywords

upland cotton

gossypium hirsutum

fiber length

fiber strength

fiber length uniformity

fiber elongation

stress tolerance

lint yield

Goals / Objectives
1. Develop germplasm with improved and unique combinations of fiber and spinning properties for greater end-use potential.2. Characterize yield and fiber components and determine how they can be defined, measured, and manipulated in the breeding process.3. Establish cotton genotypes with improved lint and seed production.4. Develop more drought and heat tolerant germplasm and cultivars.5. Develop advanced germplasm with resistance to economically important biotic stresses, especially seedling diseases.

Project Methods
The existing cotton improvement program, operating under provisions of project H-6223, provided a wide array of germplasm for use in a continuing program. Germplasm stocks are available in a local collection of materials obtained directly from other breeders in the U.S. and foreign countries as well as a wealth of tested advanced germplasm produced within project H-6223. Collaboration with the Lab Leader and Curator of the USDA Cotton Working Collection housed at College Station creates immediate access to that collection of modern, obsolete, and feral G. hirsutum collected from around the world. Current (2016) collaborations included chairing one PhD graduate student working with a collection of upland cotton cultivars developed in the U.S. during the past 100 years using genomics to identify latent alleles for fiber length and strength and two graduate students seeking to utilize marker selection for fiber length and strength. The program will continue to collaborate with other breeders in the development and evaluation of new germplasm and with molecular colleagues in the development of gene based cotton breeding Although it is impractical to outline the specific breeding methods to be utilized in the project, sound genetic principles will be employed in adapting fundamental breeding approaches to various problem areas. The primary breeding approach will involve hybridization followed by adaptations of pedigree and backcross population systems. Recurrent selection procedures have been useful in special cases to maximize genetic recombination and to concentrate favorable genetic factors in gene pools for selection. As apparent superior strains are identified, they will be included in performance trials at one to multiple locations to assess their ranges of adaptation. Appropriate greenhouse, laboratory, cage, and field techniques will be employed for bioassay and chemical assay of host plant resistance germplasm and for other special studies. Collaborative efforts with the Texas Tech University Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute and Cotton Incorporated will insure a strong fiber quality component and direction. Strong ties with molecular biologists will provide unique molecular tools for gene manipulation at the cellular level. This new and exciting technology will make a significant impact on this cotton breeding program. Appropriate experimental designs and analyses will be employed to the maximum, practical extent in the performance testing of breeding materials and in planning and prosecution of other research studies.

Progress 10/01/19 to 09/30/20

Outputs
Target Audience:Commercial cotton breeders and ultimately cotton producers and consumers. Changes/Problems:No major changes are anticipated. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has graduated 27 MS and 18PhD students and currently is training 3 PhD students. Project also provides opportunities for undergraduate students to gain experience working in a research plant breeding program. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results of this cotton breeding program have been disseminated thorugh professional publications, predominately Crop Science and Journal of Plant Registration. Career wise, the program has published 135refereed journal articles and presented results at over 200 professional meetings with other scientists such as at the annual Crop Science Society of America meetings and Beltwide Cotton Conferences. The project leaderalso has developed or co-developed and released/co-released 144germplasm lines and 5 cultivars; written or co-written 11 book chapters, authored one text book, and lead co-edited of 4 crop monographs. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Breeding nurseries will be established at College Station, TX where up to 100 unique crosses will be made to initiate the next generation of segregating material from which selections will primarily be directed toward developing upland cotton germplasm lines with fiber lengths equal to pima and fiber bundle strength near equal to pima cotton.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? TAM KJ-Q14 ESU and TAM 12J-39 ESU (extra strength upland) were developed and relesaed with the JPR registration article accepted for publication in 2020. Seeds of the accession were deposited with the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System in Ft. Collins. Additional germplasm lines and potential cultivars were evaluated in 2019-2020 at multiple locations. These genotypes possess varing levels of yield potential and fiber qualtiy. Several lines were identified with UHML up to 1.6 inches and fiber bundle strength as high as 42 g/tex.Spinning data suggest that improved fiber bundle strength is necessary for upland cotton to be competitive on newer vortex spinning frames.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Brown, Nino, X. Shen, E.L.Lubbers, J. McBlanchett, C.W. Smith, D. Jones, A.H. Paterson, and P.W. Chee. 2020. Registration of R01-40-08, a Gossypium hirsutum Upland cotton germplasm line with qFL-Chr.1 introgressed from G. barbadense conferring improved fiber length. JPR doi.org/10.3198/jpr2019.03.0014crg.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bechere, E., D.L. Auld, C.W. Smith, R.G. Cantrell, D. Mishra, B.R. Herndon, N. Brown, J.M. Rieff, T.W. Witt, and B.R. Kelly. 2020. Registration of six mutant upland cotton germplasm lines with improved fiber quality through EMS treatments and selections. JPR 14:153-158.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Smith, C. Wayne, Ben Beyer, E.F. Hequet, Steven Hague, and D. Jones. 2020. TAM BB-2139 ELSU Extra Long Staple Upland germplasm. JPR 14:72-76.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2020 Citation: Morais, Joao, Jacob James, Zach Hinds, Wayne Smith, Brendan Kelly, and Eric Hequet. 2020. A method to improve cotton fiber length measurement for laboratory analysis. MethodsX (in press)
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2020 Citation: Zhang, Meiping, Yun-Hua Liu, Wenwei Xu, C. Wayne Smith, Seth C. Murray, and Hong-Bin Zhang. 2020. Analysis of the genes controlling three quantitative traits in three diverse plant species reveals the molecular basis of quantitative traits. Scientific Reports (in press).
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Sayeed, Md Abu; Schumann, Mitchell; Kelly, Brendan; Smith, Wayne; Wanjura, John; Hequet, Eric. 2020. Characterizing the total within-sample variation in cotton fiber length using the HVI fibrogram. Textile Res. J. doi.org/10.1177/0040517520935212

Progress 10/01/18 to 09/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audience is other cotton breeders who will utilize the enhanced fiber qualilty germplasm developed in this program to produce new cultivars with improved yield potential and improved fiber quality Changes/Problems:No major changes are planned for 2020. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has graduated 27 MS and 17 PhD students and currently is training 3 PhD students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results of this cotton breeding program have been disseminated thorugh professional publications, predominately Crop Science and Journal of Plant Registration. Career wise, the program has published 126 refereed journal articles and presented results at over 200 professional meetings with other scientists such as at the annual Crop Science Society of America meetings and Beltwide Cotton Conferences. The project leaders also has developed or co-developed and released/co-released 142 germplasm lines and 5 cultivars; written or co-written 11 book chapters, authored one text book, and lead co-edited 4 crop monographs. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Breeding nurseries will be established at College Station, TX where up to 100 unique crosses will be made to initiate the next generation of segregating material from which selections will primarily be directed toward developing upland cotton germplasm lines with fiber lengths equal to pima and fiber bundle strength near equal to pima cotton.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? TAM BB-2139 ELSU (extra long staple upland) was developed and relesaed with the JPR registration article accepted for publication in 2020. Seeds of the accession were deposited with the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System in Ft. Collins. Additional germplasm lines and potential cultivars were evaluated in 2019 at multiple locations. These genotypes possess varing levels of yield potential and fiber qualtiy. Several lines were identified with UHML up to 1.6 inches and fiber bundle strength as high as 42 g/tex.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Thompson, Corey, Bralie R. Hendon, Deepika Mishra, Jacob Rieff, Cindy Lowery, Kimberly Lambert, Travis Witt, Steven Oswald, Efrem Bechere,, Wayne Smith, Roy Cantrell, Brendan Kelly, Imel-Vise Kelby, Kent Chapman, Michael Dowd, and Dick Auld. 2019. Development of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) mutants with reduced levels of palmitic acid. Euphytica 215:112-121.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Brown, Nino, X. Shen, E.L.Lubbers, J. McBlanchett, C.W. Smith, D. Jones, A.H. Paterson, and P.W. Chee. 2019. Registration of R01-40-08, a Gossypium hirsutum Upland cotton germplasm line with qFL-Chr.1 introgressed from G. barbadense conferring improved fiber length. Doi:10:3198. JPR
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Bechere, E., D.L. Auld, C.W. Smith, R.G. Cantrell, D. Mishra, B.R. Herndon, N. Brown, J.M. Rieff, T.W. Witt, and B.R. Kelly. 2019. Registration of six mutant upland cotton germplasm lines with improved fiber quality through EMS treatments and selections. JPR DOI: 10.1002/plr2.20005.

Progress 10/01/17 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:The upland cotton producers of central and south Texas primarily and national cotton producers through our efforts in improving the quality traits of upland cotton. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Mentored two on-campus Ph.D. students and one M.S. student plus two distance education graduate students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Through presentation of results to commodity group, scientific/professional meeting, and dissemination of information directly to private seed companies. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue with the current activities.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1. Develop germplasm with improved and unique combinations of fiber and spinning properties for greater end-use potential. See above for germplasm lines and one cultivar released during 2018 and their discriptions. 2. Characterize yield and fiber components and determine how they can be defined, measured, and manipulated in the breeding process. Continued to develop GP and cultivar types that combine unique fiber properties and evaluated how those combinations affected yarn properites. 3. Establish cotton genotypes with improved lint and seed production. See # 1. 4. Develop more drought and heat tolerant germplasm and cultivars. Evauluate all advance material under at least one drought location in central and sout Texas. All generations are evaluated under the oftern sever heat of south Texas. 5. Develop advanced germplasm with resistance to economically important biotic stresses, especially seedling diseases. No activity.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Smith, C. Wayne, Eric Hequet, Steve Hague, and Don Jones. 2018. Registration of Tamcot G11 upland cotton cultivar with improved fiber length. JPR 12:7-12. Smith, C. Wayne, Eric Hequet, Steve Hague, and Don Jones. 2018. Registration of TAM 11K-13 ELSU, TAM 11L-24 LSU, and TAM 11T-08 ESU germplasm lines of upland cotton. JPR 12:112-117. Smith, C. Wayne, Ben Beyer, E.F. Hequet, Steven Hague, and D. Jones. 2018. TAM BB-2139 ELSU Extra Long Staple Upland germplasm. J Plt. Reg. accepted Zhang, Meiping. Yun-Hua Liu, Chih-Sheng Chang, Hui Zhi, Shichen Wang, Wenwei Xu, C. Wayne Smith, Hong-Bin Zhang. 2018. Quantification of gene expression while taking into account RNA alternative splicing. Genomics xx:xx. DOI 10.1016/j.ygeno.2018.10.009.

Progress 02/21/17 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:Germplasm and cultivars are developed primarily for upland cotton producers in central and south Texas to address deficiencies in yield potential but more specifically for upland cotton fiber quality. Ideally, the germplasm lines with improved fiber quality are utilized as parental material in make new cultivars for Texas' producers. Private seed companies are encouraged to consider licensing the cultivars that are developed in the program. Changes/Problems:Continue to develop and evaluate unique germplasm lines and cultivars with improved fiber length and strength plus other fiber properties as deemed appropriate. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Project currently mentors three on-campus graduate students, 2 PhD and 1 MS, and two distance education graduate students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Through presentations at professional meetings; through appropriate scientific publications; through communications with private seed companies. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue with the current breeding objectives and activities.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1. Develop germplasm with improved and unique combinations of fiber and spinning properties for greater end-use potential. Tamcot G11 was developed as a non-GMO cultivar adapted to central and south Texas. Exccellen fiber package that prevents fiber length discounts under dryland production. 2. Characterize yield and fiber components and determine how they can be defined, measured, and manipulated in the breeding process. Initiated new effort to evaluate propensity to break of uplant cotton fibers during ginning and processing. 3. Establish cotton genotypes with improved lint and seed production. See item 1. 4. Develop more drought and heat tolerant germplasm and cultivars. See item 1. 5. Develop advanced germplasm with resistance to economically important biotic stresses, especially seedling diseases. no activity to report

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Bhangu, D.*, C. Wayne Smith, Steve Hague. 2017. Performance of Extra Long Staple Upland, Long Staple Upland, and Extra Strength Upland Fiber Traits in South Texas. Cotton Sci. 21:190-198. Hugie, K.L.,* C Wayne Smith, K. Joy, and D. Jones. 2017. Divergent selection for fiber length and bundle strength and correlated responses in cotton. Crop Sci 57:1-9. Smith, C. Wayne, Eric Hequet, Steve Hague, and Don Jones. 2018. Registration of Tamcot G11 upland cotton cultivar with improved fiber length. J. Plt. Reg. accepted