Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
After European colonization of the Americas,
G. hirsutum
and
G. barbadense
were further selected for their ability to be cultivated commercially, and modern
hybridization and breeding were eventually used to create the current range of
cultivars. An account of the early history of cotton in the southern USA gives an
insight into more recent selective breeding of cotton [
14
]. Between 1800 and 1850
in Mississippi, there was an increase in productivity of
G. hirsutum
cotton as a
result of developments in “breeds.” This innovation was stimulated by a demand for
cotton as a result of industrialization, so better yield and fiber quality (price) were
required. The main types grown up to 1800 were “Georgia Green Seed” and
“Creole Black Seed,” both imported from other environments. Around 1805,
Burling collected seed from Indians in Central Mexico that had better plant type,
improved fiber quality, and resistance to boll rot. This seed (“Burlings Mexican”)
was shared with neighbors and was used into the 1830s. However, with no pure seed
scheme, all “cultivars” became mixed physically and by natural cross-pollination.
In 1824, Price selected a line (“Prices Mexican”) that was further selected in 1833
by Nutt, who carefully chose planting seed by its appearance and developed the
“Petit Gulf” cultivar. This was also used in Georgia. In 1845, Vick selected planting
seed (by mass selection) from the best Petit Gulf plants in the field to produce the
“Hundred Seed” cultivar. Many cultivars were subsequently developed from this
line [
15
]. By this time, the cotton seed business was already a profitable industry in
itself. In 1851, Phillips proposed that new cotton cultivars could be produced by
direct transfer of pollen from one cotton plant to the stigma of another and heralded
the birth of modern cotton breeding.
Thus, in little over 50 years, the cotton industry in Mississippi had progressed
from simply sowing imported non-adapted seed to a vibrant business utilizing new
cultivar development regimes. The same principles of discovery of local plant
types, testing them for suitability in growing and spinning, then sharing with family
and neighbors would have applied in India and Central America over the previous
5,000 years. However, the speed of this process was more rapid in the 1800s, with
better communication in letters, magazines, and newspapers, and also the commer-
cial incentive was greater in marketing of both the fiber and seed of newly
developed cultivars, many of them eventually moving across international borders
to dominate global cotton production.
Areas of Production
The cotton production system covers a wide range of practices across the world.
There are many small-scale production systems that are hand sown, relatively low
in inputs, and hand harvested. At the other extreme are large-scale row crop
production systems, fully mechanized, and with high input of pesticide, water,
and fertilizer. For mechanical harvest, the crop requires prior chemical defoliation
to remove leaves and ensure low trash content. Harvested seed cotton is ginned to
separate seed from the lint. The lint is pressed into bales, ranging in size from 100 to
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