The UGA NESPAL Molecular Cotton Breeding Laboratory - Research

Developing germplasm lines with novel traits is of little practical benefit unless one also provides high yield and excellent fiber quality. When transgenic cultivars were first offered, this underlying genetic foundation appeared to be overlooked in the mad rush to market these products. We feel it is imperative to maintain a program to improve Upland cotton’s foundation as well as to develop more effective tools for both our program and for all of those within the cotton industry. We realize that while biotechnology is only a tool and not the goal, this tool is one of the most powerful tools that we breeders have ever used.

Our goal is to focus on development of germplasm lines that will be in demand by the public and private cotton breeders. We, of course, will not be adverse to a fortuitous discovery of an elite cultivar. Germplasm with added-value traits such as the root-knot nematode resistance will be released as soon as possible in lines well-adapted to the conditions found in the southeast US cotton belt. We expect to continue to collaborate with cotton breeders across the US cotton belt as well as with researchers throughout the world.

Classical Cotton Breeding

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field_flowers Developing germplasm lines with novel traits is of little practical benefit unless one also provides high yield and excellent fiber quality. When transgenic cultivars were first offered, this underlying genetic foundation appeared to be overlooked in the mad rush to market these products. We feel it is imperative to maintain a program to improve Upland cotton’s foundation as well as to develop more effective tools for both our program and for all of those within the cotton industry. We realize that while biotechnology is only a tool and not the goal, this tool is one of the most powerful tools that we breeders have ever used.

Our goal is to focus on development of germplasm lines that will be in demand by the public and private cotton breeders. We, of course, will not be adverse to a fortuitous discovery of an elite cultivar. Germplasm with added-value traits such as the root-knot nematode resistance will be released as soon as possible in lines well-adapted to the conditions found in the southeast US cotton belt. We expect to continue to collaborate with cotton breeders across the US cotton belt as well as with researchers throughout the world.