Robert D. Stipanovic, Lorraine S. Puckhaber, and Alois A. Bell. USDA-ARS-SPARC, 2765 F and B Road, College Station, TX 77845
Cottonseed has a high protein content, but it is under utilized because of the presence of a toxic compound called gossypol. Gossypol occurs in the plant as an mixture of (+)-gossypol and (-)-gossypol. Only the (-)-enantiomer is toxic to non-ruminant animals. Some accessions of the wild cotton Gossypium hirsutum var. marie galante have <8% (-)-gossypol in the seed. Thus, cottonseed derived from these accessions could potentially be utilized as a feed for non-ruminant animals. Gossypol and related compounds also occur in the foliage, roots, stem and bolls. These compounds protect the plant from attack by pathogens and insects. It is not known how plants derived from these accessions would resist these pests. In this paper we report the concentration of the enantiomers of gossypol in the leaves, stems and roots of four accessions of Gossypium hirsutum var. marie galante that show high, moderate-high and near normal levels of (+)-gossypol in the seed. We also report the total concentration of terpenoids in these tissues. These results are compared to the commercial cotton cultivar Stoneville 474.
See more of Cotton Improvement Conference Posters
See more of Cotton Improvement Conference
See more of The Beltwide Cotton Conferences, January 3-6 2006