**1. Introduction**

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ton isolines. Crop Science 1983;23:51-4.

Science 1969;9:705-10.

34 World Cotton Germplasm Resources

#### **1.1. History of cotton germplasm research in China**

China is one of the oldest countries that was found to have a long history of growing cotton. The remotest record was searched in one of the Chinese historic literature book *Shang Shu.Yu Gong* (about 300 BC), which described that cotton named *Jibei* was used to weave colorful cloth by the native people in the island of South China [1-2,4]. The primary species of cotton were two diploids including *G. arboreum* L. in South China and *G. herbaceum* L. in West China, but *G. arboreum* L. was only kept growing in the south of the Five Ridges area, Hainan Island and Yunan until Huang Daopo (about 1245—1330AD) improved the technology of waving cotton fiber and brought it to Songjiang in Shanghai from Yazhou in Hainan. Then, *G. arboreum* L. was widely cultivated in the mid and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and was spread to North China in Ming Dynasty. *G. herbaceum* L. was firstly found to be planted in Xinjiang, but it was not popularized across the country, and was only cultivated in Xinjiang and Gansu Provinces in the past years. *G. hirsutum* L. was firstly imported to China by Zhang Zhidong in 1892-1893 and was cultivated in Hubei. *G. barbadense* L. was imported to China earlier than *G. hirsutum* L. and was mainly in Yunan province as perennial cultivars [3-5]. Now China is the largest producer and consumer of cotton in the world. According to the World Bank, from 2005-2007, China produced 28.4 to 37 million bales of cotton and consumed 45 to 51.5 million bales in the country's domestic textile mill industry. On average, cotton was produced on ~5.6 million ha in China within three predominant growing areas including Xinjiang area, the Yellow River area, and the Yangtze River area. Similar to India, China's adoption of Bt-hybrids and cultivars have resulted in marked yield increases in recent years [6-7].

The Chinese cotton germplasm collection located at the Institute of Cotton Research of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Anyang. A medium-term working collection located at Anyang, and a long-term collection located at Beijing, which was established in 1958. An *in*

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*vivo* collection of wild species was housed at Hainan Island. The earliest medium-term germplasm bank for cotton was built in Baibi town in 1959-1960, and the seeds must be reproduce every three years, which could preserve the cotton seeds for 4-5 years because of the primitive condition. Then a semi-automatic temperature controlling medium-term germplasm bank was rebuilt in 1979-1982, which was enlarged for the storage area and was constituted of two rooms. This semi-automatic germplasm bank could kept the seeds for more than ten years at 0℃. An automatic temperature controlling medium-term grmplasm bank was built in Anyang city in 2000-2002, which could prolong the preservation of the seeds for fifteen years at 0+2℃ below 50% relative humidity. Now a new germplasm bank has been rebuilt based on the old building in Baibi town in 2011-2012, which is larger and can hold more than 30000 cotton germplasm lines at the temperature 0C and 50% relative humidity. The *in vivo* collection garden was built in Yachen, Shanya, Hannan in 1979 due to the warm and moist weather in the winter. Till now, more than 36 wild species were nursed in that place.

catalogues of cotton germplasm in China [8-9]. She organized the collection, conducted evaluation and exploration of *G. arboreum* L. in the south-west China. Later Prof. Liu Guoqiang was in charge and kept on the work of cotton germplasm. He arranged to classify and evaluate all the cultivars in the germplasm bank from 1981 to 2001. Prof. Liu edited and published the latest catalogue books of cotton germplasm in China [10-12]. Prof. Du Xiongming added molecular method in the evaluation of the diversity of cotton germplasm, and identification the genes related to elite agronomic traits in recent years [13]. Prof. Wang Kunbo was in charge of the preservation of wild species of cotton. He built the nursery station for *in vivo* preserva‐

Cotton Germplasm Resources in China http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/58595 37

tion, and evaluated the characters of species with FISH and molecular method [14].

Guangxi Province separately from 2002 to 2013 (Table 1).

**other countries**

**2. Collection of cotton germplasm in China, exploration, exchange with**

From last century, collection in homeland has gone through three stages of development. The first stage was the years before the 1949. Wang Shanquan and Feng Zhefang firstly started to collect the *G. arboreum* L., from thirteen provinces in the country including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Liaoning, Shangdong (in 1922-1923) etc., and acquired 112 lines with diversity phenotypes [1]. Later, Central Agricultural Research Institute continued the work and collected 1200 *G. arboreum* L. But most of these lines were lost during World War Two. The second stage was the middle of the last century. In 1956-1957, the Ministry of Agriculture announced to support for collection of the landraces across the country assisted by the local government. Until 1961, almost 1007 cotton lines were received from all over the country, including 697 *G. hirsutum* L., 25 *G. barbadense* L., 256 *G. arboreum* L., one *G. herbaceum* L. and five wild cottons. Regular collection expeditions were also organized at this stage. The crop explorations have covered most of South-west China. In 1975, Xiang Xianlin, Ma Xijing and Wang Biying explored Luxi, Yinjiang, Longchuan, Jinghong, Mengla in South–west of Yunnan Province. In 1980, Xiang Xianlin explored Yaxian, Linshui, Baoting, Yuedong, Baisa, Danxian, Dongfang, Wenchang in Hainan province with the help of local government. In 1983, Xiang Xianlin, Zhang Zhujie, Yang Shiquan explored the south of Guizhou Prov‐ ince, and in the same time Liu Guoqiang and Shen Duanzhuang explored the north of Guangxi Province. In this stage, the agricultural institutes in the main provinces also kept their cultivars genetic stocks and sent to the long-term germplasm bank in Beijing after evaluation till 1995. The third stage was years after 2000. In 2002-2013, lines preserved in local agricultural institutes of Xianyang, Tangshan, Xiaoshan, Jiuquan, Bazhou, Binchuan, were sent to Institute of Cotton Research of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences for long-term preservation. Explorations of landrace cotton were also carried out in this stage. Profs. Wang Kunbo and Du Xiongming organized the explorations in Yunan, Guizhou,

**Figure 1.** Map of exploration of *G. arboreum* L. in south-west china

Six professors have been in charge of the germplasm bank and *in vivo* garden from 1958 to 2013, and made important contributions to the development of cotton germplasm in China. Prof. Meng Shiheng was the first researcher in charge of cotton germpasm work during 1957-1960, and he established the early system of preservation of cotton, including information collection of pedigree and specimens. Xiang Xianlin continued the work and built seven ecological conservation sites from 1958-1989. Xiang edited and published the first two catalogues of cotton germplasm in China [8-9]. She organized the collection, conducted evaluation and exploration of *G. arboreum* L. in the south-west China. Later Prof. Liu Guoqiang was in charge and kept on the work of cotton germplasm. He arranged to classify and evaluate all the cultivars in the germplasm bank from 1981 to 2001. Prof. Liu edited and published the latest catalogue books of cotton germplasm in China [10-12]. Prof. Du Xiongming added molecular method in the evaluation of the diversity of cotton germplasm, and identification the genes related to elite agronomic traits in recent years [13]. Prof. Wang Kunbo was in charge of the preservation of wild species of cotton. He built the nursery station for *in vivo* preserva‐ tion, and evaluated the characters of species with FISH and molecular method [14].

*vivo* collection of wild species was housed at Hainan Island. The earliest medium-term germplasm bank for cotton was built in Baibi town in 1959-1960, and the seeds must be reproduce every three years, which could preserve the cotton seeds for 4-5 years because of the primitive condition. Then a semi-automatic temperature controlling medium-term germplasm bank was rebuilt in 1979-1982, which was enlarged for the storage area and was constituted of two rooms. This semi-automatic germplasm bank could kept the seeds for more than ten years at 0℃. An automatic temperature controlling medium-term grmplasm bank was built in Anyang city in 2000-2002, which could prolong the preservation of the seeds for fifteen years at 0+2℃ below 50% relative humidity. Now a new germplasm bank has been rebuilt based on the old building in Baibi town in 2011-2012, which is larger and can hold more than 30000 cotton germplasm lines at the temperature 0C and 50% relative humidity. The *in vivo* collection garden was built in Yachen, Shanya, Hannan in 1979 due to the warm and moist

36 World Cotton Germplasm Resources

weather in the winter. Till now, more than 36 wild species were nursed in that place.

Six professors have been in charge of the germplasm bank and *in vivo* garden from 1958 to 2013, and made important contributions to the development of cotton germplasm in China. Prof. Meng Shiheng was the first researcher in charge of cotton germpasm work during 1957-1960, and he established the early system of preservation of cotton, including information collection of pedigree and specimens. Xiang Xianlin continued the work and built seven ecological conservation sites from 1958-1989. Xiang edited and published the first two

**Figure 1.** Map of exploration of *G. arboreum* L. in south-west china
