Developing the Ability to Capture Traits From Diploid Gossypium Species.

The cotton family of germplasm (Gossypium) is comprised of cultivated tetraploid species and wild/uncultivated diploid species.  The multitude of valuable natural traits in the diploid species is not readily available to cotton breeders because diploids will not readily cross pollinate with the cultivated tetraploid types.  The collaborative project presented here was initiated to take advantage of specialized crossing techniques developed by the Gembloux University in Belgium plus the advanced cotton molecular marker capability within TG&T and the breeding skills within PhytoGen to transfer the Reniform nematode resistance trait from the diploid species, G. longicalyx into a proprietary PhytoGen variety.  Work in this specific project is presented as an example of the overall progress being made by our team in establishing the ability to mine diploid species for traits of interest using specialized breeding methodologies.