Utilization of Natural and Genetically-engineered Sources in Gossypium hirsutum for the Development of Tolerance against Cotton Leaf Curl Disease and Fiber Characteristics

The present study efforts have been made to combine natural and genetically-engineered resistance to get enhanced tolerance against cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) and improvement in fiber characteristics. Maximum number of tolerant plant against CLCuD was observed in the families of NIBGE-115 x transgenic Coker-312 expressing antisense rep, whilst minimum number of plants was in the families of FH-1000 x transgenic rep Coker-312 cotton. It was noted that ginning out turn; fiber fineness was significantly increased in Fi and F2 of NIBGE-115 x transgenic antisense rep Coker-312. Significant increase for fiber length was observed in the families of CIM-496 x transgenic antisense Coker-312 but non-significant differences were observed in all of the families of the crosses. The positive and highly significant correlation coefficient was observed between fiber length and fiber strength. The sample of parent plant material was small in the present study and did not represent the whole of the germplasm of G. hirsutum, therefore it would be worth-while to conduct another experiment involving large number of parents from the germplasm in a crossing program to substantiate the present findings. © 2010 Friends Science Publishers