Clemson University

The Cotton Trust Protocol of the Us Cotton Industry Has Identified Water Use Efficiency (WUE) as a Key Sustainability Metric in Cotton Production, Emphasizing the Critical Need for the Availability of Water-use-efficient Cotton Varieties Across the Us Cotton Belt. Developing the Next Generation of Water-use-efficient Cotton Varieties Will Depend on Advanced Breeding Techniques Involving Genomic Tools and the Availability of Germplasm With a Broad Genetic Base. Currently, the Lack of Molecular Markers Having a Strong Association With Wue Is a Limitation for Breeding Water-use-efficient Cotton Varieties. in Our Preliminary Research, We Identified Root Phenotypes Associated With Wue in Cotton and Genes Controlling Root Phenotypes That Can Enhance Water Absorption. Further, We Developed Germplasm and Genetic Mapping Resources for Establishing the Genetic Architecture of Practically Relevant Traits in Cotton. in the Proposed Research, the Above Results Will Be Integrated to Develop Breeding Tools for Improving Wue in Cotton. We Will (1) Characterize a Diversity Panel of 200 Accessions of Elite Upland Cotton for Root and Shoot Traits and Wue, (2) Conduct Genome-wide Association Studies to Establish Marker-trait Associations for the Root and Shoot Traits That Enhance Wue, (3) Validate the Marker-trait Associations Using Breeding Populations, and (4) Understand the Genetic Coordination of Wue Through High-resolution Genomic Analysis. the Key Deliverable From This Project Will Be Molecular Markers for Wue, Which Will Expand the Genetic Tools for Developing High-yielding Cotton Varieties.