Project Grant 20226701336440

COTTON IS THE NUMBER ONE VALUE-ADDED CROP IN THE UNITED STATES. ANNUAL BUSINESS REVENUE STIMULATED BY THE US COTTON INDUSTRY IS WELL OVER $120 BILLION. PUBLIC-SECTOR COTTON BREEDERS UNDERLIE THE CURRENT AND FUTURE SUCCESS OF US COTTON PRODUCTION, WITH AN ULTIMATE GOAL TO PROVIDE HUMANS WITH THE BEST FEELING, MOST AFFORDABLE NATURAL TEXTILE PRODUCTS. WHILE DISTINCT COTTON TYPES ARE AVAILABLE FOR FARMERS THAT HAVE EITHER GREAT FIBER QUALITY OR HIGH YIELD, THERE ARE NO AVAILABLE COTTON VARIETIES THAT BEAR HIGH AMOUNTS OF EXTRA HIGH QUALITY FIBERS. IN LIGHT OF A CHANGING CLIMATE, INCREASING AGRICULTURAL INPUT COSTS, AND A CHANGING WORLD MARKETPLACE, PLANT BREEDERS NEED TOOLS TODAY TO DELIVER SOLUTIONS FOR TOMORROW'S PROBLEMS. PUBLIC-SECTOR COTTON BREEDERS HAVE ACHIEVED SUCCESS HISTORICALLY BY USING THE CONVENTIONAL PLANT BREEDING PRACTICES: USE A HIGH-YIELD TYPE PLANT AS A PARENT AND CROSS-POLLINATE WITH HIGH-FIBER QUALITY TYPES. BY EXAMINING THOUSANDS OF THE OFFSPRING PLANTS OVER A PERIOD OF MANY YEARS, COTTON BREEDERS OBSERVE THE TRAITS AND SELECT THE BEST INDIVIDUALS TO MOVE FORWARD. WITH ENOUGH TIME AND RESOURCES, THEY ARE ABLE TO DELIVER INCREMENTAL PROGRESS TO FARMERS, BENEFITTING THE FAMILIES AND BUSINESSES THAT CLOTHE AMERICA AS WELL AS CONSUMERS WHO LOVE THE NATURAL FEELING OF COTTON TEXTILES.RECENT SCIENTIFIC ADVANCES WILL ENABLE COTTON BREEDERS TO CONCEPTUALLY TIE TOGETHER CUTTING-EDGE BIOTECHNOLOGY AND GENOMICS WITH THE HANDS-ON ART OF PLANT BREEDING. BY USING BOTH THE OLD AND THE NEW, BREEDERS WILL BE ABLE TO COMBINE BENEFICIAL TRAITS INTO A PACKAGE THAT IS USABLE BY COTTON FARMERS. HOWEVER, ADOPTION OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES HAS BEEN SLOW, PRIMARILY DUE TO A SERIOUS SHORTFALL IN OUR ABILITY TO LINK THEORY TO PRACTICE. ALTHOUGH MORE AND MORE GENETIC INFORMATION IS BECOMING AVAILABLE, PUBLIC-SECTOR COTTON BREEDERS STILL RELY PRIMARILY ON LABORIOUS, EXPENSIVE METHODS TO DIRECTLY OBSERVE THE TRAITS ON ADULT PLANTS. MOREOVER, IT IS DIFFICULT FOR BREEDERS TO WORK TOGETHER BECAUSE THEY ALL COLLECT AND SAVE THEIR DATA IN DIFFERENT WAYS. WE AIM TO CLOSE THESE GAPS. FIRST, USING THE LATEST AVAILABLE DNA SEQUENCING TECHNOLOGY, WE WILL DEVELOP AN INEXPENSIVE SYSTEM TO DO GENETIC TESTING ON TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PLANTS. BY AGGREGATING THE DNA INFORMATION AND FIELD DATA IN A STANDARDIZED DATABASE SYSTEM, WE WILL HELP BREEDERS ADOPT NEW WAYS TO MAKE THEIR DATA PORTABLE, SHAREABLE, AND DIRECTLY COMPARABLE BETWEEN BREEDING PROGRAMS. WITH OUR NEW TOOLS IN HAND, WE WILL USE A COMBINATION OF AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS AND COMPUTATIONAL PREDICTIONS TO TEST DIFFERENT WAYS OF IDENTIFYING THE GEMS IN A BREEDER'S FIELD. THIS APPROACH ELIMINATES THE NEED TO WAIT MULTIPLE GENERATIONS BEFORE KNOWING WHICH PLANT IS BEST. THIS NEW SYSTEM OF SELECTING PLANTS WILL BE TESTED AND APPLIED IN THE GEORGIA AND SOUTH CAROLINA COTTON BREEDING PROGRAMS, AND THEN SHARED WITH ALL OTHER COTTON BREEDING PROGRAMS. THIS PROJECT WILL BRING THE MOST TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED METHODS TO PUBLIC COTTON BREEDING, INCREASING OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY, DECREASING TIME NEEDED TO IMPROVE AND DEVELOP NEW CULTIVARS, AND FREEING UP BREEDERS TO ADDRESS NEW CHALLENGES FACING THE FUTURE OF COTTON PRODUCTION.