Survey of Cotton Viruses in Oklahoma and Texas

Cotton (Gossypium spp.) is one of the most economically important crops not only for fiber production for Textile industry, but also play a role in the feed and oil industries. In the United States, cotton is an important commodity and Texas is the leading state in cotton acreage and production. Various viruses have been reported worldwide that infect cotton plants and have significantly affected the quality and quantity of cotton yield. It is very important to know about a particular virus that infects cotton in the US before formulating control measures against a specific virus. The purpose of this project is to survey cotton fields in Oklahoma and Texas for virus-like diseases, identify potential virus disease and determine their relationships with the known virus diseases reported in other countries.