**Usefulness and Utilization of Indian Cotton Germplasm**

N. Manikanda Boopathi, S. Sathish,

P. Dachinamoorthy, P. Kavitha and R. Ravikesavan

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/58619

**1. Introduction**

[31] Basu AK, Paroda RS. 'Hybrid Cotton in India – A Success Story' Asia Pacific Associa‐ tion of Agricultural Research Institutions, FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pa‐

[32] Bhale N L. Heterosis Breeding In HAND BOOK OF COTTON IN INDIA eds. Sun‐ daram V. Basu A K. Krishna Iyer K R, Narayanan S S. Rajendran T P. pub: Indian

[33] Narayanan SS. Innovative research under IP regimes with special reference to cotton

[34] Phundan Singh. Narayanan SS. Cotton Improvement Procedures In: HAND BOOK OF COTTON IN INDIA, Eds: Sundaram V. Basu A K. Krishna Iyer K R. Narayanan S S. Rajendran T P. pub: Indian Society for Cotton Improvement, Mumbai, 1999 p.41

[35] Anurudh K. Singh. Dhillon BS. Chapter 52, National Network on Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources SEED IN INDIA, SEED CONSERVATION: TURNING SCI‐ ENCE INTO PRACTICE, Eds. Smith RD, Dickie JB, Linington SH. Pritchard HW. and

[36] Cotton International Annual; New Frontiers envisioning cotton's future, Meister

[37] Loknathan TR. Phundan Singh. Agarwal RJ. Punit.Mohan. Suman Bala Singh. Vinita Gotmare. Singh VV. Genetic Enhancement of Cotton, 2003, *CICR Technical Bulletin* 26

[38] Rathinavel K. Manickam S. Gururajan N. Deshmukh RK. Shanthy V. Draft National Guidelines for the conduct of DUS Test of Cotton (*Gossypium* Spp.), compiled by AICCIP; 2006 pp1 40, Central Institute for Cotton Research, Regional Station, Coim‐

[39] Malik SS. Singh SP. Role of plant genetic resources in sustainable agriculture *Indian J.*

[40] Percy G. *Gossypium* Germplasm Resources for Cotton Improvement Genomics and

[41] Parchuri Vidyasagar. "Cotton Improvement in India – Contribution and Perspectives of Private Seed Industry" Dr. V. Sundaram Memorial Lecture Series (2011), 09 June 2011 pp 1 26 pub: Indian Society for Cotton Improvement (ISCI) at Central Institute

[42] CICR Nagpur "The Cotton Innovate – CICR Newsletter" weekly publication (June 2013) by Central Institute for Cotton Research Post Bag No. 2, Shankar Nagar PO, Nagpur 440010 Phone : 07103 275536 Fax : 07103 275529; email: cicrnag‐

for Research on Cotton Technology (ICAR) Mumbai (India).

pur@gmail.com; CICR Official website: www.cicr.org.in.

Robert RJ. London: The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2003 pp. 1023.

cific, Bangkok, Thailand, 1995 pp. 38.

56.

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Publication, 2014 pp.145.

pp. 16, Nagpur, India.

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Biotechnology, ARS USDA, 2009 pp18.

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*Asian Textile Journal* December, 2013 pp.65 72

Cotton, jute and similar fibre crops are the key money-makers in Indian agriculture sector. India has the largest area of global cotton cultivation that contributes 23% to the global cotton production. Cotton plays a key role in the Indian economy in terms of income generation in the agricultural and industrial sectors. Textiles and related exports account for nearly 33% of the total foreign exchange earnings (~12 billion dollars) of India and it is projected that there will be a significant increase in the coming year [1].

Cotton is cultivated in three different zones (northern, central and southern) of India. Ap‐ proximately 65% of India's cotton is produced on dry land and 35% on irrigated lands. The northern zone is almost totally irrigated, while the percentage of irrigated area is much lower in the central (23%) and southern zones (40%). Under the non-irrigated conditions, annual rainfall ranges from less than 400 to more than 900 mm coupled with unusual patterns over the years which lead to large-scale fluctuations in cotton production [2].

It is estimated that around 20 million farmers cultivate cotton in India and about 46 million persons are employed directly by the ginning, pressing, trade, knitting, handloom, processing and cotton related textile industry and thus cotton cultivation and textile utilization is the second largest employer after general agriculture. There are more than 2,500 spinning mills and 250 composite mills in India having an installed capacity of approximately 35 million spindles, 1.7 million power looms/handlooms and thousands of garment, hosiery and processing (dyeing and printing) units [3]. The decentralized sector comprising power looms and handlooms, provide employment to over 2.5 million people [4]. Others include thousands of garment manufacturing units, over 3500 ginning and pressing factories and several marketing organizations of raw cotton, yarns, fabrics and garments.

© 2014 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Since India has a large domestic textile industry, the mill consumption of cotton in the country has been continuously on the raise from the beginning of the 1990s. There was a leap in domestic cotton consumption in 2012-13 from 22.9 (in 2009-10) to 27.6 million bales, and in some cases, cotton lint was imported from China [5]. Since the economic liberalization began in 1991, there has been an impressive increase in the export of cotton. In addition to yarns, fabrics and garments, whose exports have been steadily rising in recent years, raw cotton is also permitted to be exported from time to time [6]. Therefore cotton production in India has boundless impact not only on the livelihood of the farmers and economy of the country, but also on international trade. Further, global textile market demands for increased fibre uni‐ formity, strength, extensibility, and novel value added quality. This clearly justify the impor‐ tance of new and innovative approaches toward evaluating, understanding and utilizing the available cotton germplasm and they are discussed in this chapter.

yield under water limited environments. In all the places, selection towards an annual habit type was carried out. Another component is known as *uppam* belonging to *G. herbaceum.* The name *uppam* is synonymous with both *Ukkan* and Udumalpet cottons. Since the early cultiva‐ tion was centred on Udumalpet in Tamil Nadu, it was named after the place. The other name *Ukkan* has been interpreted to mean that *Vokkalegas* who hailed from Chittaldurg and Dharwad districts of Karnataka and settled in western parts of Coimbatore district in Tamil Nadu, brought the cotton with them during their migration. The women of this community were known to spend their spare time in ginning and spinning cotton. The name *uppam* cotton in Southern tip of Peninsula may have been due to its property of swelling (*uppal* in Tamil) of the kapas by sea breeze (*uppu katru* in Tamil) under whose influence it thrives well in eastern

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Presently, all the four cultivated cotton species (*G. hirsutum, G. barbadense* L.*, G. arboreum* and *G. herbaceum* L.) are being commercially cultivated in India. The diploid cotton (*G. arboreum* and *G. herbaceum*) are indigenous to Asia and Africa and are popularly referred to as desi cottons in India. They are mainly cultivated in dry land tracts, though Bengal desi is grown under irrigated situations in the northern states. *G. hirsutum* is known as the American cotton and most popular varieties and hybrids now under cultivation (nearly 90% of plantings) belong to this group. *G. barbadense* is popularly known as the Egyptian cotton and is grown in small area in India. These two new world cottons, i.e., the tetraploid (2n=52) species of *G. hirsutum* and *G. barbadense* were initially introduced into India during the 17th and 18th centuries

Thus it can be clearly conceptualized that the history of cotton and textiles in India is the true representation of the history of the utilization of cotton germplasm and growth of the modern industries in India. It is believed that modern cotton varietal improvement program in India was started as early as 1901. The earlier part of 20th century witnessed cultivation of desi cotton varieties which mature in 200 days and were poor yielding but endowed with resistance to pest, disease and drought. The objectives of breeding program during those days were mainly focused on breeding for short duration and increased yield. Cotton varietal improvement program has employed all the breeding strategies such as introduction, mass selection, pedigree selection, intra-and inter-specific hybridization, backcrossing and induced muta‐

The East India Company made many attempts to improve the native cotton of Tamil Nadu, India. It tried to introduce the American tetraploid cotton. However, all their attempts were unsuccessful. During 1904-05, a chance introduction of an American cotton, cultivated in Cambodia (the present Kampuchea), indicated the possibility of raising it under irrigated conditions. Within three or four years, it spread throughout the Southern Districts of Tamil Nadu and got the name "Tirunelveli American". Later, it spread throughout Tamil Nadu and came to be known as "Cambodia Cotton" in the Southern peninsula and laid the foundation for strong establishment of cotton ginning, spinning and weaving industry in South India [12]. For example, efforts to release American tetraploids were responsible for the release of a cultivar, CO 2 (a pure selection of Cambodia bulk) and several MCU (Madras-Cambodia-

coastal parts of India [12].

[13].

tions.

#### **2. Historical perspectives of cotton germplasm utilization in India**

The time when cotton fibre was first used in India for cloth or other textile fabric making could not be dertemined precisely. The first reference to cotton is found in rig Veda hymn [7]. The stages of seed cotton, spinning the lint and weaving the yarn are covered in various religious texts and thus suggest the implicit use of cotton in India by 1000 BC [8]. The cotton textile trade is considered ancient since it was shown that Indian cotton fabrics have been found in the tombs of the Pharaohs [9]. From time immemorial, India was the only country that was known for its cotton fabrics when the rest of the world was being dressed mostly in wool [10]. The fabrics dated approximately 3000 BC recovered from Mohenjo-Daro excavated in Sind were identified to have originated from cotton plants, closely linked to *Gossypium arboreum* [11], thereby confirming that cotton lint was spun and woven into cloth even before 3000 BC. In some of the ancient literatures, perennial cotton trade was reported in the beginning of the Christian era. Colourful and designer handloom fabrics and apparels of India were regularly imported by Egypt, Greece, Rome and China [12]. All Indian cottons in the 13th century were perennials and they were in cultivation until recently. Bushy perennial forms of cotton are still being maintained in remote villages of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. The East Indian Company (which was the major trader in exporting the Indian cotton to Inter-Asian and European countries [9]) recognized three trade varieties of cotton during the 18th century: 1. *Tinnies* (which is a mixture of *Karunganni* belonging to *G. arboreum* race *wightia‐ num*) 2. *Salems* (which is also a mixture of perennial native cotton *Nadan* (meaning native) belonging to *G. arboreum* race *indicum* and *uppam;* in addition another perennial cotton belonging to the group of *G. hirsutum* L. race *punctatum* introduced by the East India Company in the late 18th Century was also included in this category) and 3. *Karunganni* (which belongs to *G. arboreum*) cotton [12].

Rozi cottons belonging to *G. arboreum* were supposed to be the ancient commercial type. Vizagapattinam of Andhra Pradesh is the place of differentiation of *indicum*. The perennial *Nadan* cotton of the Southernmost part of Tamil Nadu is the progenitor of *Karunganni* variety (belonging to *G. hirsutum*), which has excellent drought tolerance and can provide significant yield under water limited environments. In all the places, selection towards an annual habit type was carried out. Another component is known as *uppam* belonging to *G. herbaceum.* The name *uppam* is synonymous with both *Ukkan* and Udumalpet cottons. Since the early cultiva‐ tion was centred on Udumalpet in Tamil Nadu, it was named after the place. The other name *Ukkan* has been interpreted to mean that *Vokkalegas* who hailed from Chittaldurg and Dharwad districts of Karnataka and settled in western parts of Coimbatore district in Tamil Nadu, brought the cotton with them during their migration. The women of this community were known to spend their spare time in ginning and spinning cotton. The name *uppam* cotton in Southern tip of Peninsula may have been due to its property of swelling (*uppal* in Tamil) of the kapas by sea breeze (*uppu katru* in Tamil) under whose influence it thrives well in eastern coastal parts of India [12].

Since India has a large domestic textile industry, the mill consumption of cotton in the country has been continuously on the raise from the beginning of the 1990s. There was a leap in domestic cotton consumption in 2012-13 from 22.9 (in 2009-10) to 27.6 million bales, and in some cases, cotton lint was imported from China [5]. Since the economic liberalization began in 1991, there has been an impressive increase in the export of cotton. In addition to yarns, fabrics and garments, whose exports have been steadily rising in recent years, raw cotton is also permitted to be exported from time to time [6]. Therefore cotton production in India has boundless impact not only on the livelihood of the farmers and economy of the country, but also on international trade. Further, global textile market demands for increased fibre uni‐ formity, strength, extensibility, and novel value added quality. This clearly justify the impor‐ tance of new and innovative approaches toward evaluating, understanding and utilizing the

available cotton germplasm and they are discussed in this chapter.

to *G. arboreum*) cotton [12].

120 World Cotton Germplasm Resources

**2. Historical perspectives of cotton germplasm utilization in India**

The time when cotton fibre was first used in India for cloth or other textile fabric making could not be dertemined precisely. The first reference to cotton is found in rig Veda hymn [7]. The stages of seed cotton, spinning the lint and weaving the yarn are covered in various religious texts and thus suggest the implicit use of cotton in India by 1000 BC [8]. The cotton textile trade is considered ancient since it was shown that Indian cotton fabrics have been found in the tombs of the Pharaohs [9]. From time immemorial, India was the only country that was known for its cotton fabrics when the rest of the world was being dressed mostly in wool [10]. The fabrics dated approximately 3000 BC recovered from Mohenjo-Daro excavated in Sind were identified to have originated from cotton plants, closely linked to *Gossypium arboreum* [11], thereby confirming that cotton lint was spun and woven into cloth even before 3000 BC. In some of the ancient literatures, perennial cotton trade was reported in the beginning of the Christian era. Colourful and designer handloom fabrics and apparels of India were regularly imported by Egypt, Greece, Rome and China [12]. All Indian cottons in the 13th century were perennials and they were in cultivation until recently. Bushy perennial forms of cotton are still being maintained in remote villages of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. The East Indian Company (which was the major trader in exporting the Indian cotton to Inter-Asian and European countries [9]) recognized three trade varieties of cotton during the 18th century: 1. *Tinnies* (which is a mixture of *Karunganni* belonging to *G. arboreum* race *wightia‐ num*) 2. *Salems* (which is also a mixture of perennial native cotton *Nadan* (meaning native) belonging to *G. arboreum* race *indicum* and *uppam;* in addition another perennial cotton belonging to the group of *G. hirsutum* L. race *punctatum* introduced by the East India Company in the late 18th Century was also included in this category) and 3. *Karunganni* (which belongs

Rozi cottons belonging to *G. arboreum* were supposed to be the ancient commercial type. Vizagapattinam of Andhra Pradesh is the place of differentiation of *indicum*. The perennial *Nadan* cotton of the Southernmost part of Tamil Nadu is the progenitor of *Karunganni* variety (belonging to *G. hirsutum*), which has excellent drought tolerance and can provide significant Presently, all the four cultivated cotton species (*G. hirsutum, G. barbadense* L.*, G. arboreum* and *G. herbaceum* L.) are being commercially cultivated in India. The diploid cotton (*G. arboreum* and *G. herbaceum*) are indigenous to Asia and Africa and are popularly referred to as desi cottons in India. They are mainly cultivated in dry land tracts, though Bengal desi is grown under irrigated situations in the northern states. *G. hirsutum* is known as the American cotton and most popular varieties and hybrids now under cultivation (nearly 90% of plantings) belong to this group. *G. barbadense* is popularly known as the Egyptian cotton and is grown in small area in India. These two new world cottons, i.e., the tetraploid (2n=52) species of *G. hirsutum* and *G. barbadense* were initially introduced into India during the 17th and 18th centuries [13].

Thus it can be clearly conceptualized that the history of cotton and textiles in India is the true representation of the history of the utilization of cotton germplasm and growth of the modern industries in India. It is believed that modern cotton varietal improvement program in India was started as early as 1901. The earlier part of 20th century witnessed cultivation of desi cotton varieties which mature in 200 days and were poor yielding but endowed with resistance to pest, disease and drought. The objectives of breeding program during those days were mainly focused on breeding for short duration and increased yield. Cotton varietal improvement program has employed all the breeding strategies such as introduction, mass selection, pedigree selection, intra-and inter-specific hybridization, backcrossing and induced muta‐ tions.

The East India Company made many attempts to improve the native cotton of Tamil Nadu, India. It tried to introduce the American tetraploid cotton. However, all their attempts were unsuccessful. During 1904-05, a chance introduction of an American cotton, cultivated in Cambodia (the present Kampuchea), indicated the possibility of raising it under irrigated conditions. Within three or four years, it spread throughout the Southern Districts of Tamil Nadu and got the name "Tirunelveli American". Later, it spread throughout Tamil Nadu and came to be known as "Cambodia Cotton" in the Southern peninsula and laid the foundation for strong establishment of cotton ginning, spinning and weaving industry in South India [12]. For example, efforts to release American tetraploids were responsible for the release of a cultivar, CO 2 (a pure selection of Cambodia bulk) and several MCU (Madras-CambodiaUganda) series which formed the basis of all cotton improvement programs in Tamil Nadu and other parts of South India [12].

Few cytomorphologically stable male sterile plants have been identified from the derivatives of multispecies hybrids involving wild species *G. raimondii, G. thurberi, G. hirsutum* and *G. barbadense*. One hundred and thirty seven *harknessii* cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines, 15 *aridum* CMS lines, 19 genetic male sterile (GMS) lines and 57 restorer lines are being maintained through crossing, sibmating and selfing at CICR. For genetic improvement of CMS and GMS lines, they were treated with physical (gamma rays) and chemical mutagen (ethyl methane

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Desi cotton species have originated in India, particularly the three geographical races of *G. arboreum* L. namely *bengalense, cernuum* and *indicum* and of *G. herbaceum* L. race *wightianum*. Excavations of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa have shown that cloth of finest quality of about 300 counts was produced from the *G. arboreum*. Such perennial cotton possesses variability in useful traits like fibre, pest resistance and abiotic stress tolerance. CICR has taken initiative to collect and conserve the landraces of desi cotton and perennials with desirable characters from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. The important cotton landraces like *Ponduru, Karuganni, Commilla,*

Seeds of 1517 *G. hirsutum* including 289 exotics and 350 accessions of *G. arboreum* are being maintained at National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi under long term cold storage, while another set of the same germplasm is being kept in medium term cold storage at CICR, Nagpur. Further, three genetic stocks of *G. arboreum* race *cernuum* immune to

The germplasm accessions available in the gene bank are regularly being evaluated for major economic characters such as high yield, high boll weight, high ginning out turn and lower maturity period besides their reaction to major pests and diseases. Similarly, the new germ‐ plasm lines received every year are also evaluated for a set of agronomic and economic characters. The selected superior accessions will be further evaluated in multi-locations and

Evaluation and maintenance of American and Desi cotton germplasm is mandate of CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar. Thirty five genetic male sterile lines have been developed in *G. arboreum* (and six genetic male sterile lines of cotton have been registered with NBPGR, New Delhi) and forty four genetic male sterile lines and forty three cytoplasmic genetic male sterile lines have been developed in *G. hirsutum*. Besides these lines, 55 potential restorers and a large collection of landraces have also been identified and maintained at this

At TNAU, Coimbatore, 1012 accessions of *G. hirsutum,* 149 accessions of *G. barbadense* and wild species of *G. aridum* and *G. hirsutum* race *punctatum* are being maintained and routinely evaluated and used in regional breeding program. Genetic improvement of cotton for

*Uppam* and *Wagad* were collected from different states of India [17].

grey mildew disease have also been stored at NBPGR, New Delhi.

provided to regional breeding program after validating their usefulness.

sulphonate) and being maintained [16].

**3.2. CCS-HAU, Hisar**

**3.3. TNAU, Coimbatore**

University.

India is the first country to grow hybrid cotton on a commercial scale since the 1970s. During those periods, hybrid seeds were produced by hand emasculation and pollination and the first intra-*hirsutum* hybrid, Hybrid-4, were released from Gujarat Agricultural University, Surat, India in 1971. In subsequent years, it covered 26.8 percent of the total cotton cultivated area in India and contributed 50 percent of the national cotton production [6]. Considering the importance of hybrids in Indian cotton scenario and its market potential in abroad, several hybrids were released such as Varalaxmi, DCH 32 in successive years. In Tamil Nadu, TCHB213 an inter-specific hybrid with high yield potential with superior qualities (such as high elongation percentage that fit to hosiery, resistant to reiniform nematodes and spinning capacity of 100s counts etc.,) was released in 1990.
