Molecular Diversity and Polymorphism Information Content of Selected Gossypium hirsutum Accessions

Effective use of Gossypium hirsutum L. lines in cotton genetic improvement programs depends on the extent of genetic variation for desirable alleles and the accurate characterization of the variability among germplasm accessions. Marker assisted selection has provided the potential for efficient development of disease and pest resistant plants. Association mapping is used to identify chromosomal regions containing disease-susceptibility loci or loci involved in other phenotypic traits of interest like fiber quality. It has been advocated as the method of choice for mapping complex-trait loci. Such studies are very limited in cotton and therefore are important for cotton breeding. Gossypium hirsutum accessions with resistance to reniform nematodes from the USDA collection were evaluated and genotyped with SSR markers.