Cotton Breeding and Genetics Initiative -SAAESD March 2002- COTTON INCORPORATED

Optimizing Cotton Production and Profitability Research on reduction of input costs Research to add value to cotton Research on “risk management” Reducing variability in yield and quality Decision making resources RGC ® COTTON INCORPORATED Agricultural Research:

Agricultural Research Budget History RGC

Profitability... $ Irrigation Technology Genetics Crop Modeling Precision Agriculture Biotechnology Agronomy Ginning Technology IPM Inputs Cottonseed Production Economics Outputs Plant Physiology Entomology Agricultural Research: ® COTTON INCORPORATED RGC

Cotton Germplasm and Genetics Yield stagnation Fiber quality decline Stability Genetic diversity Genetic vulnerability Bronze wilt Seed rot RGC ® COTTON INCORPORATED Agricultural Research:

Role of Cotton Incorporated Mission- Improve profitability of U.S. cotton production! Examine gaps in U.S. research system limiting genetic advancement in cotton Create Cotton Breeding & Genetics Initiative in 2002 Balance short term and long term research objectives RGC ® COTTON INCORPORATED Agricultural Research:

Significant Gaps in Public Research Sector Germplasm and population development Coordinated early generation germplasm testing (especially for fiber quality and production stability) Genomics research integration into cotton genetic improvement Training of future cotton breeders RGC ® COTTON INCORPORATED Agricultural Research:

Public Plant Breeding Chronic lack of funding for conventional breeding Erosion in number of faculty/scientist positions Extensive germplasm base and technology base in place In danger of being lost Lack of Freedom to Operate (FTO) for many biotechnology projects Responsibility to train future cotton breeders RGC ® COTTON INCORPORATED Agricultural Research:

Goals of Cotton Breeding & Genetics Initiative Accelerate germplasm development and enhancement Expand non-commercial public germplasm availability to the commercial breeders Emphasize genetic enhancement for “output” traits Expand genomic “tool kit” for public and commercial sectors Establish Cotton Incorporated Fellowships RGC ® COTTON INCORPORATED Agricultural Research:

Current funding status of initiative-2002- New funding $750,000 for 2002 12 projects selected for funding in 2002 25 participating breeders, geneticists, agronomists, physiologists, and molecular biologists Check www.cottoninc.com for updates RGC ® COTTON INCORPORATED Agricultural Research:

CURRENTLY NOT A PRIORITY Development of commercial cultivars to directly compete with private sector Cotton Incorporated doesn’t have the resources or the mandate to become a Seed Company! RGC ® COTTON INCORPORATED Agricultural Research:

Present Focus On Biotechnology Derived Cultivars In Commercial Seed Companies Single or few genes inserted in the cotton genome at a time Requires extensive event characterization and stabilization Backcross breeding (transgene conversion) Possible interaction with genetic background, insertion site, and environment Genetic engineering to improve complex traits (lint yield and fiber quality) likely to magnify the above phenomena RGC ® COTTON INCORPORATED Agricultural Research:

Future Research MUST Span the Gap Molecular biology - modify one or few genes at a time Cotton breeding - deals with all 50,000 genes in the cotton plant ONLY STRATEGY THAT WILL RESULT IN SUSTAINABLE GENETIC ADVANCE IN COTTON (increased bottom-line profit for growers) RGC ® COTTON INCORPORATED Agricultural Research:

Cotton Incorporated Initiative will Accelerate Germplasm Development and Enhancement Mine and exploit germplasm resources Increase coordination and collaboration in public sector Facilitate rapid transfer of technology to commercial breeders Speed up process by expanding support and use of off-season nursery (Tecoman, Mexico) RGC ® COTTON INCORPORATED Agricultural Research:

Expanded and different support for CWN Direct funding of CWN by CI for research projects Stability and continuity of use Expanded utilization

Current Germplasm Limitation Lack of integrated evaluation for productivity and quality FOCUS on early generation germplasm Regional Public Breeders Network to be established Increase germplasm evaluation for many biotic and abiotic factors Coordinated and expanded testing for important fiber traits Rapid data analysis/dissemination RGC ® COTTON INCORPORATED Agricultural Research:

Cotton Incorporated Will Emphasize Genetic Enhancement for “Output” Traits Fiber quality Large scale evaluation with new instrumentation Spinning quality Determine stability of fiber quality traits across environments Genetic combinations combining fiber quality and productivity RGC ® COTTON INCORPORATED Agricultural Research:

World Fiber Demand

Benefits of Public Genetic Technologies Cotton breeders can select based on genes/genotype, not just phenotype. Selection of plants based on their genetic potential. Cotton breeders can MINE important alleles for complex traits from diverse germplasm sources (improve genetic diversity) Genomics can dissect the interaction of important genes with genetic background (cultivar effects) The effect of genotype X environment interaction will NEVER go away. Genomics can dissect the components of GXE. How does a gene know what environment it is in?? RGC ® COTTON INCORPORATED Agricultural Research:

Future Cotton Genomic Applications Must shift focus from gene(s) to germplasm (germplasm engineering) Greener biotechnology - modification of existing (native cotton genes) Better understanding of the “genomic landscape” Find happy home in the genome for transgenes DNA Marker-assisted breeding RGC ® COTTON INCORPORATED Agricultural Research:

Cotton Incorporated Fellows (CIF) Create very competitive PhD and Post Doc opportunities for students in cotton breeding, genetics, and molecular biology Probably 3- 4 in place for 2002 Goal is 10 or more RGC ® COTTON INCORPORATED Agricultural Research:

Cotton Incorporated (IP) Eight different CRAs in place Willing to work with individual situations Can provide more FTO on some biotech traits in the future RGC ® COTTON INCORPORATED Agricultural Research: