Gossypium barbadense: An Approach for in Situ Conservation in Cerrado, Brazil

Abstract

Abandonment of planting of Gossypium barbadense has endangered its existence. The objective was to determine the characteristicof the maintenance of Gossypium barbadense in the Central-West Region of Brazil, with the aim to foster the conservation of the species. Expeditions were conducted in 2014-2015 in Southeast Goiás, where cotton collection has not been reported before. Data from previous collections in Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul and Distrito Federal available in Albrana database were considered this study. In the Central-West Region of Brazil, 466 accesses of G. barbadense were recorded, found most frequently in backyards (91.4%), but also spontaneous plants (7.5%), farm boundary (0.8%) and commercial farming (0.2%) have also been found. The main use indicated by VDU was as medicinal plant (0.66), therefore this is the main reason for in situ preservation. However, this cultural habit has been abandoned, causing uncertainty about the continuity of preservation. There was presence of lint almost only in seeds of plants of the variety brasiliense. The most common fiber color was white, not cream color, suggesting that plants are derived from commercial cultivars used in the past. Hence, until 2015, the conservation relies on single plants almost exclusively in backyards for medicinal use, and there are no crops of this type of cotton for commercial purpose. The exploitation of the possible use both of the fiber as a medicinal plant would foster ex situ and in situ preservation of this important genetic resource.

Evolution of the Cotton Genus,Gossypium, and Its Domestication in the Americas

“…Gossypium barbadense intraspecific diversification. Sources: Bauhin, 1623;Linnaeus, 1753;Hutchinson et al, 1947;Hutchinson, 1951;Stephens, 1973;Percy and Wendel, 1990;Ding et al, 2015;Castro et al, 2016 a. G. barbadense var. brasiliense This botanical variety is distributed in northeastern South America and the Amazon Basin.…”

“…Cotton varieties derived from the Ecuadorian type or var. brasiliense remain as door-yard cottons and still have an important role breeding programs, along with Sea Island germplasm (Castro et al, 2016).…”

Perennial Cotton Ratoon Cultivation: A Sustainable Method for Cotton Production and Breeding

“…Worldwide, Gossypium germplasms with different ecological niches have much morphological, agronomic, physiological, and genetic variability that is conserved in situ at centers of cotton origin (Castro et al, 2016 ) and preserved ex situ with a large number of accessions in eight major countries with extensive cotton germplasm collections, namely Australia, Brazil, China, France, India, Russia, the USA, and Uzbekistan (Abdurakhmonov, 2007 ; Rahmat et al, 2014 ; Boopathi and Hoffmann, 2016 ), attaching great importance to the preservation of perennial germplasms. It is worth noting that more than 20,000 cotton germplasm accessions are preserved in Uzbekistan, making that the most extensive collection in the world.…”