Phenotypic evaluation of the CIRAD cotton germplasm collection

The CIRAD cotton germplasm collection was founded in 1978 and currently includes 3,070 accessions, of which 2,724 have been described for botanical, agronomic and technological traits. The collection includes 1,700 cultivated varieties and 1,370 wild or subspontaneous genotypes. This collection is used to increase genetic variability in breeding programs and marker-assisted selection program and for germplasm exchange between CIRAD and its collaborators. This poster presents the results of evaluations to identify accessions that could potentially be utilized to improve cotton cultivars of the cultivated species. The cultivar and wild-type accessions of these species were described and assessed during seed rejuvenation initiatives conducted under field conditions in various tropical countries. Results indicated that the genetic diversity of wild types of the four cultivated species could be used to improve some fibre characteristics in the cultivated species. Biotic and abiotic stress resistance will be highly important in the future and different methods to assess these features should thus be investigated. (Texte intégral