Objective
The NIS is the third largest cotton producing region in the world. World cotton production has increased by 40% during the past decade, yet cotton production in the NIS decreased by 17%. Cotton production is threatened by insects, pathogens and weeds. Development of stress resistant cotton plants will increase the yield, lower the cost of production and ensure environmental protection. Classical breeding is a possible solution for crop improvement, but this is hampered because of incompatibility barriers between cultivated cotton and wild species. Development of transgenic cotton plants is another solution and has proved to be worth the effort in many other plant species.
The objective of this project is to develop insect, pathogen and herbicide resistant cotton plants. The project is divided into four parts: development of in vitro regeneration system through somatic embryogenesis for commercial NIS cotton varieties; cloning of genes conferring insect, pathogen and herbicide resistance; construction of vectors for high expression of these genes in cotton; transfer of these genes into commercial NIS varieties using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.
A working group on Cotton Biotechnology (WG 9) was recently established within the Interregional Co-operative Research Network on Cotton of the FAO (IRCRNC). During the latest consultative meeting of the IRCRNC in Athens, the FAO recommended extending WG9's activities towards NIS countries. This will become possible through this joint project.
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
Data not availableCoordinator
3001 Heverlee - Leuven
Belgium