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Texas is expected to experience higher night and day temperatures and more extreme and erratic rainfall in the future. Along with the impacts of climate change, the majority of current cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) hectarage is expected to have less irrigation water available as the Ogallala aquafer continues to decline. Both of these realities suggest that many of Texas' cotton producers will return to dryland production which will require reducing input cost, for example, using genetically modified cultivars. Currently, conventional cotton planting seed are about 25% lower in cost per hectare than genetically modified cultivars. Currently, most cultivars offered for sale to Texas producers are transgenic with few conventional cultivars available. The public breeding programs of Texas A&M AgriLife Research develop germplasm with improved traits for private industry and conventional cultivars with yield potential for Texas environments, both irrigated and dryland. 'Tamcot H12' (Reg. no. CV‐148, PI 705604) was derived from a complex pedigree involving 'DP 491' (PI 618609), TAM 96WD‐18, TAM 91C‐95Ls, and 'DP Acala 90' (PVP 8100143). Tamcot H12 performed as well or better than most current cultivars in trials in Texas and across the US Cotton Belt. Tamcot H12 will provide producers with another conventional cotton variety. Core Ideas: Cost of upland cotton planting seed may continue to be a limiting factor of GM cultivar use in many areas of Texas with rainfall events becoming less predictable, resulting in moderate to severe drought during the growing season.Conventional upland cotton cultivars may become more popular because the reduced cost of planting seed relative to GM cultivars.Tamcot H12 offers competitive yield potential throughout the state of Texas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report presents a micro-simulation method to evaluate potential ITS applications. Based on the commercial PARAMICS model, a capability-enhanced PARAMICS simulation environment has been developed through integrating a number of plug- in modules implemented with Application Programming Interfaces (API). This enhanced PARAMICS simulation can thus have capabilities to model not only the target traffic conditions and operations but also various potential ITS strategies. An evaluation study on the effectiveness of potential ITS strategies under the incident scenarios is conducted over a corridor network located at the city of Irvine, California. The potential ITS strategies include incident management, local adaptive ramp metering, coordinated ramp metering, traveler information systems, and the combination of above. Based on the calibrated simulation model, we implement and evaluate these scenarios. The evaluation results show that all ITS strategies have positive effects on the network performance. Because of the network topology (one major freeway with two parallel arterial streets), real-time traveler information system has the greatest benefits among all single ITS components. The combination of several ITS components, such as the corridor control and the combination scenarios, can generate better benefits.

Root exudates comprise various primary and secondary metabolites that are responsive to plant stressors, including drought. As increasing drought episodes are predicted with climate change, identifying shifts in the metabolome profile of drought-induced root exudation is necessary to understand the molecular interactions that govern the relationships between plants, microbiomes, and the environment, which will ultimately aid in developing strategies for sustainable agriculture management. This study utilized an aeroponic system to simulate progressive drought and recovery while non-destructively collecting cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) root exudates. The molecular composition of the collected root exudates was characterized by untargeted metabolomics using Fourier-Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) and mapped to the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) databases. Over 700 unique drought-induced metabolites were identified throughout the water-deficit phase. Potential KEGG pathways and KEGG modules associated with the biosynthesis of flavonoid compounds, plant hormones (abscisic acid and jasmonic acid), and other secondary metabolites were highly induced under severe drought, but not at the wilting point. Additionally, the associated precursors of these metabolites, such as amino acids (phenylalanine and tyrosine), phenylpropanoids, and carotenoids, were also mapped. The potential biochemical transformations were further calculated using the data generated by FT-ICR MS. Under severe drought stress, the highest number of potential biochemical transformations, including methylation, ethyl addition, and oxidation/hydroxylation, were identified, many of which are known reactions in some of the mapped pathways. With the application of FT-ICR MS, we revealed the dynamics of drought-induced secondary metabolites in root exudates in response to drought, providing valuable information for drought-tolerance strategies in cotton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Costa Rica has rich ecological resources and has been a steady political force in turbulent Central America. Most recently, it has become a battleground between pro- and anti-genetically modified organism (GMO) political forces. This case study examines the roles of U.S.-based cotton ("Gossypium hirsutum" L.) seed companies, anti-GMO activists, and the Costa Rican government officials in this debate. Cotton seed companies in the United States use Costa Rica as an important counter-season seed production location. Most of the seed increases and breeding generations grown in Costa Rica contain transgenic traits. By allowing the use of these traits, Costa Rican exports to food markets in North America and Europe have been threatened and enrage those most passionate against globalization and GMOs. On the other hand, banning GMOs would end the counter-season cotton ("Gossypium hirsutum" L. and "G. barbadense" L.) seed industry in Costa Rica, but more importantly reduce the likelihood that crops such as rice ("Oryza sativa" L.), sugarcane ("Saccharum" spp), and floriculture in Costa Rica would ever contain valuable transgenic traits. The public debate, which has been ongoing for several years, has left most Costa Ricans more confused than ever with no definitive resolution in sight. Students are encouraged to form possible resolutions to the conflict and weigh the arguments and counter-arguments for transgenic plants.

With Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum W.C. Snyder & H.N. Hansen) race 4 (FOV4) formally identified in proximity to the High Plains of west Texas—the largest upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) producing region in the United States—the need to develop cultivars resistant to FOV4 has become urgent. Currently, there are no commercial upland cultivars available claiming FOV4 resistance. Fusarium wilt race 4, a soil‐borne fungus, has affected the cotton crop in the San Joaquin Valley of California for two decades. The primary purpose for the release of the upland PSSJ‐FRU01–PSSJ‐FRU17 (Reg. no. GP‐110–GP‐1126, PI 699966–PI 699982) germplasm lines is to provide cotton breeders with urgently needed sources for FOV4 resistance in upland cotton. The lines were derived from six different cross‐combinations using 10 parental lines with different genetic backgrounds (e.g., 'DES 920' [PI 536522], 'NM12Y1004' [NuMex COT 15 GLS, PI 678371], 'MARS ROSE CLUSTER' [PI 528483], 'AUBURN M' [PI 529214], and 'SA‐3208' [LIAO MIAN 7 HAO]). Several cycles of selection were applied to these developed lines based on an asymptomatic single plant selection after greenhouse FOV4 inoculations or infested field evaluations from F1 to F4. In 2019–2021 evaluations, germplasm lines showed enhanced resistance to FOV4 with significantly lower percentage mortality and vascular root staining as compared to resistant controls ('Pima‐S6' and 'PHY 881 RF') and improved fiber strength and some long fibers. These released lines will help to reduce the vulnerability of upland cotton to this fungal pathogen and advance efforts to broaden the resistance genetic base which is critical for the upland cotton industry. Core Ideas: Germplasm lines provide urgently needed sources for improving Fusarium wilt race 4 (FOV4) resistance in upland cotton.Germplasm lines increase the upland cotton safety net by reducing vulnerability against FOV4 fungal pathogen.With different genetic background, parents were selected to increase genetic diversity in developed germplasm lines.Lines possess improved resistance to FOV4 when compared to commercial cultivars.This is the first public set of upland germplasm lines with improved FOV4 resistance developed from parents with diverse genetic backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding plant breeding as well as procedures and issues of seed companies are skills students studying agronomy need to acquire. Simulation games can be effective teaching tools in developing higher-order thinking skills of students. The "Fantasy Seed Company" game was developed to create motivated learners by allowing students to run a mock seed company. Students are confronted with a series of questions and scenarios that will determine their personal success and the success of the company. The format of Fantasy Seed Company is flexible enough to allow instructors to address a wide range of topics. Students can learn teamwork, the value of science to businesses, and long-term implications of decisions. Use of Fantasy Seed Company in the classroom potentially provides three cognitive learning outcomes: (1) declarative knowledge, (2) procedural knowledge, and (3) strategic knowledge. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to identify the number and area of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) bolls in a field plot can serve as an important high‐throughput phenotyping strategy for predicting seedcotton yield. The objectives of this study were to determine if the prediction of seedcotton yield using a UAV could be improved in skip‐row spacing versus solid‐row spacing and if a genotype × row‐spacing interaction occurs for important yield and fiber traits. A split‐plot design was used with the main plot being row spacing and the sub‐plot consisting of five cotton genotypes. Trials were conducted at three locations in 2017 and 2018. Seedcotton yield, lint yield, lint percent, and fiber qualities were measured for all treatments. In 2018, UAVs with red, green, and blue (RGB) cameras were flown across the fields at two locations to estimate open‐boll count and boll area at the end of the growing season. In general, lint yield and fiber quality were not affected by genotype × row spacing interactions. Seedcotton yield estimations from UAV‐based RGB sensors were improved when cotton was planted on a skip‐row spacing versus a solid row configuration. However, several issues beyond the improvement of seedcotton yield predictions with UAVs need to be considered before research programs use skip‐row spacing. Core Ideas: Evaluation of the accuracy of UAV sensors to predict lint yield validates high‐throughput phenotyping technology.Our findings demonstrated the improvement of cotton yield predictions with UAV sensors in skip‐row patterns.The genotype × row spacing interaction was minimal, so UAVs can be used to predict cotton yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]