Screening and evaluation of reliable traits of upland cotton(Gossypium hirsutum L.)genotypes for salt tolerance at the seedling growth stage

Background:Salt stress significantly inhibits the growth,development,and productivity of cotton because of osmotic,ionic,and oxidative stresses.Therefore,the screening and development of salt tolerant cotton cultivars is a key issue towards sustainable agriculture.This study subjected 11 upland cotton genotypes at the seedling growth stage to five different salt concentrations and evaluated their salt tolerance and reliable traits.Results:Several morpho-physiological traits were measured after 10 days of salinity treatment and the salt tolerance performance varied significantly among the tested cotton genotypes.The optimal Na Cl concentration for the evaluation of salt tolerance was 200 mmol·L-1.Membership function value and salt tolerance index were used to identify the most consistent salt tolerance traits.Leaf relative water content and photosynthesis were identified as reliable indicators for salt tolerance at the seedling stage.All considered traits related to salt tolerance indices were significantly and positively correlated with each other except for malondialdehyde.Cluster heat map analysis based on the morpho-physiological salt tolerance-indices clearly discriminated the 11 cotton genotypes into three different salt tolerance clusters.Cluster I represented the salt-tolerant genotypes(Z9807,Z0228,and Z7526)whereas clusters II(Z0710,Z7514,Z1910,and Z7516)and III(Z0102,Z7780,Z9648,and Z9612)represented moderately salttolerant and salt-sensitive genotypes,respectively.Conclusions:A hydroponic screening system was established.Leaf relative water content and photosynthesis were identified as two reliable traits that adequately represented the salt tolerance of cotton genotypes at the seedling growth stage.Furthermore,three salt-tolerant genotypes were identified,which might be used as genetic resources for the salt-tolerance breeding of cotton.

Genotypic Resistance of F_1 Cotton Hybrids by Inoculation with Different Virulent Isolates of the Fungus Verticillium Dahliae Klebahn

The plant pathogen Verticillium dahliae causes severe cotton losses in Uzbekistan. To create cotton varieties that are resistant to the more virulent races of V.dahliae we wanted to determine

Effects of elevated CO2 and plant genotype on interactions among cotton, aphids and parasitoids

Effects of CO2 level （ambient vs. elevated） on the interactions among three cotton （Gossypium hirsutum） genotypes, the cotton aphid （Aphis gossypii Glover）, and its hymenoptera parasitoid （Lysiphlebiajaponica Ashrnead） were quantified. It was hypothesized that aphid-parasitoid interactions in crop systems may be altered by elevated CO2, and that the degree of change is influenced by plant genotype. The cotton genotypes had high （M9101）, medium （HZ401） and low （ZMS13） gossypol contents, and the response to elevated CO2 was genotype-specific. Elevated C02 increased the ratio of total non-structural carbohydrates to nitrogen （TNC ： N） in the high-gossypol genotype and the mediumgossypol genotype. For all three genotypes, elevated CO2 had no effect on concentrations of gossypol and condensed tannins. A. gossypii fitness declined when aphids were reared on the high-gossypol genotype versus the low-gossypol genotype under elevated CO2. Furthermore, elevated CO2 decreased the developmental time of L. japonica associated with the high-gossypol genotype and the low-gossypol genotype, but did not affect parasitism or emergence rates. Our study suggests that the abundance of A. gossypii on cotton will not be directly affected by increases in atmospheric CO2. We speculate that A. gossypii may diminish in pest status in elevated COz and high-gossypol genotype environments because of reduced fitness to the high-gossypol genotype and shorter developmental time of L. japonica.