Status of the USA cotton germplasm collection and crop
vulnerability
Wallace.T, P Bowman D. Campbell B. T Chee P. Gutierrez O. A .Kohel R. J McCarty J. Myers G. Percy R. Robinson F. Smith W. Stelly D. M. Stewart.J. M Thaxton P. Ulloa M. Weaver D. B 2008.
Genet Resour Crop Evol DOI 10.1007/s10722-008-9382-2
The National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) is a cooperative effort among State, Federal
and Private organizations aimed at preserving one of agriculture’s greatest assets: plant genetic diversity.
The NPGS serves the scientific community by collecting, storing, and distributing germplasm as
well as maintaining a searchable database of trait descriptors. Serving the NPGS, a Crop Germplasm
Committee (CGC) is elected for each crop and is comprised of a group of scientists concerned with
development, maintenance, characterization, and utilization of germplasm collections. Each CGC serves
in an advisory role and provides a status report every seven years to determine scientific efforts, adequacy
of germplasm base representation, and progress in breeding through utilization of germplasm. In addition,
each committee can call attention to areas of concerns regarding facilities and staffing associated
with the maintenance, collection, and taxonomic activities for a specific crop within the system. The
following report was developed by the CGC for cotton and provides a record of collections, activities, concerns, crop vulnerabilities, and recommendations associated with the cotton collection for the period
1997–2005. Information provided within this document is a much expanded and detailed description of a report provided to the NPGS and includes the most exhaustive citation of germplasm depositions and
research activity descriptions available anywhere in the USA for this time period. This documentation
will be a valuable resource to breeders, geneticists, and taxonomists with an interest in this important food and fiber crop..