The US National Cotton Germplasm Collection

Cotton germplasm is an essential resource for plant breeders to develop new and improved cotton crops and for researchers to discover new traits in cotton or understand better the biology of cotton.  The US National Cotton Germplasm Collection (NCGC) is part of the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System, a collaborative effort to safeguard the genetic diversity of agriculturally important plants.  The NCGC provides cotton germplasm and associated information to users and provides regular status reports of activities, accomplishments, and priorities to the agency and the cotton community.  Key activities such as cotton seed distribution, seed increase, germplasm characterization, acquisition, databases, and research are summarized here.  Limited quantities of seed from accessions in the NCGC are available for research purposes.