Researchers in Texas, US, have used the recent drought as an opportunity to develop a stronger variety of cotton plants that can survive such conditions.

Jane Dever and Steve Hague, cotton breeders with the Texas A&M University System, are working with local plant physiologist Carlos Fernandez to isolate the ideal genes of cotton plants.

“If there’s any silver lining to this drought, it may be able select or distinguish between different types of cotton that might be able to handle this weather better,” Ms Dever said.

Mr Fernandez’s research lab in the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Centre in Corpus Christi is observing 16 types of cotton genotypes to determine which features are more drought-tolerant than others. Water absorption, retention, plant growth, leaf size and shape are a few of the notable features observed in each test plant.

“We want to find why the different genotypes are using different amounts of water and which plant traits have) that ability to withstand water deficits,” Mr Fernandez said.

In the lab, each plant is exposed to the same conditions including the amount of soil and water and sunlight received. Some of the plants’ weight is measured electronically every 10 minutes to determine which plants absorb water quicker. There are many factors in determining drought tolerance, and Mr Hague said researchers have yet to make any breakthroughs in plant productivity in drier conditions.

“We are moving that ability and steadily improving it,” Mr Hague said. “Cotton is a difficult crop to do that because it has a temporal fruiting habit. It fruits over long period of time.”

If the tests prove to be successful, the data will be returned to the breeders to further develop a drought tolerant crop that may potentially be mass produced.

“Texas is the number one cotton producer in the country,” Mr Hague said. “Cotton is a multibillion dollar industry at stake, not just in terms of what we produce directly but with the economic generator associated with that.”

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