Physiological Studies of Cotton Drought Tolerance

Abstract

We evaluated an array of progeny of interspecific cotton crosses in the field. Significant water stress was placed on the plants in mid-summer by withholding water supplied by drip irrigation during plant development earlier in the season. A number of physiological measurements were carried out on selected individual plants of this population during the several week period of imposed drought stress. Overall results confirm that a large degree of variation exists within the population for all traits measured. Initial carbon isotope discrimination measurements suggest this trait may prove useful in estimating transpiration efficiency of cotton genotypes.