Exploiting Chemically Induced Mutation to Improve Fiber Traits in Upland Cotton
Exploiting Chemically Induced Mutation to Improve Fiber Traits in Upland Cotton
Abstract
Modern Upland Cotton has a narrow germplasm base that often limits the success of breeding programs. Chemically induced mutations can be used to develop improved mutant populations and individual mutants with improved fiber traits that can be exploited by cotton breeders. About 5,000 seeds of the germplasm MD 15 were mutagenized with 3.2 % volume by volume ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS). One boll plant-1 was bulk harvested and a sample of seeds from this bulk was planted in the M2 (2009), M3 (2010), and M4 (2011). This allowed for three generations of selfing which increased homozygosity and additive genetic variance. In 2011, the bulked M4 was labeled MD 15 M4 and registered as an improved population of MD 15 for fiber traits (Reg. No. GP-957, PI 665638). Starting 2011, individual mutant plants were selected on the basis of fiber length, strength, and uniformity. Outstanding plants that performed better than both the best checks and random checks were identified for all the above traits.