Short Season Cotton Has Alleviated The Contradiction Between Grain And Cotton Competition.

China is the largest cotton producing country in the world.

The annual cotton planting area is about 80 million mu, which accounts for about 13%% of the world's cotton growing area. At the same time, China is still a large exporter of raw cotton and textile products. Cotton is also related to the income of 200 million cotton farmers in China and the employment of 19 million textile workers.

In addition, cotton is an important economic crop and strategic material in China, and occupies an important position in national economic and social development.

But on the other hand, there are many people in China, especially in the north, and only one season of cotton can be planted. The surplus time is not enough to grow wheat.

Therefore, improving the multiple cropping index and land utilization rate is always one of the themes of agricultural production.

Short season cotton is a special cotton variety. Its plant type is compact, its plant is short, its internodes are short, its branches are short, its first fruit branch is low, its leaf number is small, and its growth period is short. It is suitable for China to grow cotton type under the conditions of two crops and multiple cropping systems in a year. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to develop short season cotton production through alleviating the contradiction between grain and cotton in our country through the genetic improvement of short season cotton varieties.

At present, the short season cotton plants in the world are not only overseas, but also the United States, the former Soviet Union, India and Egypt.

Because of the special regional environment, the cotton growing season in the former Soviet Union is short. In order to avoid the low temperature during the late growth of cotton, the former Soviet Union chose to plant short season cotton varieties. The situation in the United States, India, Egypt and the former Soviet Union was different.

Planting Short Season Cotton Varieties in the United States is to reduce or avoid late pests, reduce field management and reduce production costs. In 1980s, India introduced rotation system, and demanded early breeding of cotton varieties.

The contradiction between grain and cotton has always been prominent and increasingly serious in China. Breeding short season cotton varieties with relatively short growth period and suitable for cotton growing in the Yellow River and Yangtze River Valley is a necessity for developing two crops or even more mature crops, and thus obtaining grain and cotton double harvest. In particular, Gansu, Xinjiang, Northern Xinjiang and some parts of Southern Xinjiang cotton area, due to low initial temperature, often cause low temperature and cold damage. Later temperature drop quickly, resulting in cotton bolls can not mature normally, seriously affect yield and quality, and also urgently need varieties of short season cotton which are resistant to late sowing and early maturity.

In order to cultivate short season cotton varieties needed for agricultural production in China, members of the research group have hosted 16 major projects on cotton topic, national pgenic cotton base and industrialization, 973, 863 and so on over the years, and 15 new varieties of short season cotton, Low Gossypol Cotton and pgenic insect resistant cotton have been cultivated, which have accumulated 200 million mu in the main cotton areas of the country, and the economic benefit is 19 billion yuan.

12 awards were awarded, including one national science and technology progress award, two prize and three provincial and ministerial level awards. In 1998, the research group was awarded the national "May 1" labor certificate.

In addition, it has trained 22 masters and Ph. D. candidates, published 90 papers and 6 books; members of the research group have also participated in academic conferences at home and abroad for many times, and have made general assembly reports or presided over meetings. For example, in 2006, the representative of China, who was selected as the white paper on the sequencing of the international cotton genome, has a good reputation in the cotton industry.

A cotton research team with solid foundation, rigorous academic atmosphere and high academic level has been established.