Fighting Fusarium Wilt through Breeding in Cotton: A Successful Story in China

Fusarium wilt (FW) used to one of the most destructive diseases in cotton in China. Through breeding since the 1950s especially a national cooperative effect from pathologists and breeders in the 1970s-1990s, a number of highly resistant cotton cultivars were developed, resulting in an effective control of the disease since the 1990s. In my previous work in China between 1985 and 1998, I led a project in studying the genetic basis of FW resistance in cotton, which was described in two review papers published in Crop Science and Euphytica in 2015 and 2016. This presentation will share with the US audience on a comprehensive degree analysis of FW resistant germplasm lines developed in China and the genetic basis of the resistance.