The Integration of High-Throughput Phenotyping and Genotyping-by-Sequencing to Genetically Dissect the Physiological Responses of Cotton to a Hot, Arid Environment

The Arizona Phenomics Consortium is working towards the development of field-based high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) tools to study the genetic basis of agronomic and physiological traits related to the productivity of cotton in the southwestern United States. We present results from tractor-based HTP of vegetation indices and canopy temperature in a recombinant inbred mapping population over the growing season. In addition, we present a quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis of these HTP traits with two genetic marker systems, simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS). This work illustrates how powerful modern plant breeding tools are leveraged in the genetic improvement of cotton.