Oxidative stress occurs when crop plants are exposed to extreme abiotic conditions that lead to the excessive production and accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Those extreme abiotic conditions or stresses include drought, high temperature, heavy metals, salinity, and ultraviolet radiation, and they cause yield and quality losses in crops. ROS are highly reactive species found in nature that can attack plant organelles, metabolites, and molecules by interrupting various metabolic pathways until cell death occurs. Plants have evolved defense mechanisms for the production of antioxidants to detoxify the ROS and to protect the plant against oxidative damage. Modern researches in crop plants revealed that low levels of ROS act as a signal which induces tolerance to environmental extremes by altering the expression of defensive genes. In this review, we summarized the processes involved in ROS production in response to several types of abiotic stress in cotton plants. Furthermore, we discussed the achievements in the understanding and improving oxidative stress tolerance in cotton in recent years. Researches related to plant oxidative stresses have shown excellent potential for the development of stress-tolerant crops.

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Abiotic stress, particularly heat stress, affects various parts of the cotton plant and ultimately impacts the seed cotton yield. Different portions of a single cotton plant of a cultivar exhibit variable responses to stress during reproductive and vegetative phases. To test this hypothesis, physiological and morphological traits related to heat stress were observed for two flowering positions in 13 genotypes of upland cotton. These genotypes were sown in field conditions in triplicate following a randomized complete block design. Data were collected for pollen germination, pollen viability, cell membrane thermostability, chlorophyll content, boll weight, and boll retention for both the top and bottom branches of each genotype. The collected data were analyzed for the identification of variability within and between genotypes for these two flowering positions. Tukey’s test was applied to estimate the significance of differences between genotypes and positions within each genotype. Results showed that the two positions within the same plant statistically varied from each other. The bottom branches of the genotypes performed significantly better for all traits measured except boll weight. The genotype AA-933 performed best for pollen germination and boll retention, while CYTO-608 exhibited maximum pollen viability in both the bottom and top flower positions compared with other genotypes. Overall, MNH-1016 and CIM-602 showed better cell membrane thermostability and chlorophyll content, respectively. This intra-plant variability can be further exploited in breeding programs to enhance the stress tolerance capabilities of the resulting varieties.