Genetic modification of cotton plants for more efficient water use

✍ Scribed by L.L. Ray; C.W. Wendt; Bruce Roark; J.E. Quisenberry

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1974
• Weight: 439 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0002-1571
• DOI: 10.1016/0002-1571(74)90008-9

✦ Synopsis

Genetic modification of cotton plants for more efficient water use. Agric. Meteorol., A review of research in water-use efficiency of cotton is presented. Variability exists in numerous cultivars of cotton in fruiting pattern, rooting depth, relative turgidity at wilting point and at stomatal closure, transpiration rate, leaf area, thickness and shape, stoma frequency, and leaf resistance. Since these variables are related to water use by cotton, there is a potential for breeding more efficient cotton varieties with respect to water requirement.

DROUGHT TOLERANCE IN COTTON

Usually, cotton is not classified among the drought-tolerant crops. In discussing the crops of the arid and semiarid areas of the western United States, McPhail (1963) lists sorghum and wheat as drought-tolerant crops, but refers to cotton only as an irrigated crop. Compared to other plants, cotton is not very efficient in the amount of water required per unit of dry matter produced. Briggs and Shantz (1914) found that the amount of water required to produce 1 g of dry matter was 646 g for cotton, compared to 368 g for corn and 322 g for sorghum.

More than 75% of the cotton crop in the U.S. is produced in areas with either irrigation or relatively high rainfall. Consequently, most cotton-research programs have neglected water-use efficiency, especially as related to variety development. However, farmers in the semiarid cotton-producing areas regard cotton as an excellent dryland crop. We think cotton has some unique * Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Article No.10539.