Advance in research and utilization of cotton biotechnology in China

Cotton (Gossypium spp.) is an economically important crop that is grown throughout the world. It is the main material in textile and the main economic resource for more than 100 millions of cotton farmers in China. Due to its main role in our economy, cotton biotechnology has been significantly improved in the last decades in China, which led to a significantly progress both in cotton research and production. Cotton biotechnology started from 1970’s in China has been improved greatly in various aspects such as tissue culture, protoplast culture and somatic hybridization, and recombination technology or gene engineering. In this paper, the cotton biotechnology status in China has been taken into account by keeping in view the work done by Chinese scientist, especially in cotton somatic culture, cotton protoplast culture and somatic hybridization, and transgenic cotton with insect resistance, diseases resistance and fiber quality improvement in China.