Difference Between Types of Cotton

One of the first domesticated plants was cotton. It is grown as the primary fibre crop in the globe and is significant among all naturally occurring textile fibres with great commercial value. It was independently cultivated as a source of fibre in both the ancient and new worlds. In this article, we will cover the difference between types of Cotton species.

Family: Malvaceae
Tribe: Gossypieae

Botanical name: Gossypium species

Types of Cotton:

Only four of the roughly 50 species in the genus Gossypium are grown and used to make spinnable fibres; the remaining 46 are classified as wild species and are found all over the world in tropical and subtropical climates. Seven tetraploid species (with 2n = 52) have been assigned into genome AD, while the remaining 43 diploid species (with 2n = 26) have been grouped into seven genomes from A to G. These wild species are a valuable source of useful features that can be used to improve farmed species through introgressive breeding, including fibre qualities, resilience to abiotic and biotic stressors, and cytoplasmic male sterility.

G. arboreum (Old world cotton, section Herbacea, diploid, 2n = 26)

G. herbaceum (Old world cotton, section Herbacea, diploid, 2n = 26)

G. hirsutum (New world cotton, section Hirsuta, tetraploid, 2n = 52)

G. barbadense (New world cotton, section Hirsuta, tetraploid, 2n = 52)

Origin of Tetraploid Cotton

World’s commercially cultivated cotton is obtained from two tetraploid species, G. hirsutum, an upland species that contribute 90 per cent of the world’s plantings, and G. barbadense, pima cotton species. Two desi cotton species in India, G. arboreum and G. herbaceum, are two diploid native species of Asia and Africa. In fact, the various researchers have revealed that new world cottons are natural amphidiploids containing the A genome (from the Asiatic diploid group) and D genome (from the American diploid group). The timing of these crosses is hypothetical. The new world cotton species include G. hirsutum (American cotton) and G. barbadense (Egyptian). The allotetraploid of these plants contains fifty-two chromosomes and the AADD genome. The probable sequence in the origin of tetraploid species is summarised as follows:

Difference Between Types of Cotton species

G. hirsutum, a new-world tetraploid cotton, has probably evolved from hybridization between G. herbaceum (old world diploid cotton) and G. thurberi (American upland cotton). Two tetraploid species, G. hirsutum, an upland species that contributes 90% of global plantings, and G. barbadense, a Pima cotton species, provide the majority of commercially grown cotton in the world. G. arboreum and G. herbaceum, two species of desi cotton native to India, are significant commercially.

To summarize, the four cultivated species of cotton are very different from each other. Different characteristics can be used to differentiate the different types of cotton like genome, distribution, leaves, flowers, seeds, fibre etc.

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Team MBD

Watch here-How Cotton Processing in Factory, Cotton Cultivation – Cotton Farming and Harvest – YouTube