Developing Conventional Cotton Cultivars with Value Added Traits

The seed of cotton represents almost 60% of the total harvested biomass in cotton production but generates less than 20% of the gross income from a cotton crop.  Because U.S. grown cotton fiber is almost entirely marketed into International Markets, the return on cotton fiber is sensitive to many economic and political factors which our cotton industry cannot control.  Cotton seed is nearly all marketed into domestic markets as a source of edible oil and high protein animal feed.   In the U.S., approximately 40% of cotton seed is crushed for human oil consumption and 60% is used full fat to improve milk fat production in dairy cows.  Development of non-transgenic derived genetic modifications in cultivars of cottonseed could enhance its value and improve the income generated from U.S. cotton production.  Seed traits such as naked-tufted seed coat, increased seed oil content, reduced palmitic acid (C16:0), and increased oleic acid (C18:1) could improve the value of domestically marketed cottonseed.  The incorporation of non-transgenic, selective herbicide tolerance could also improve the value of cotton produced in the U.S.  Our conventional genetics program at Texas Tech University has increasingly concentrated on improving the oilseed characteristic of cottonseed in an effort to enhance the total income derived from domestic cotton production.