Adaptation of the Newly Isolated Cotton Mutants to the Cambodia’s Climate Condition

Abstract

Cotton is an important industrial crop for textile production.
However, it has been observed that the production is almost
abandoned due primarily to low price of cotton fiber, poor fiber
quality, and pest insect problems. To address these problems,
Prek Leap National Institute of Agriculture (NIA), Cambodia in
collaboration with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
has currently introduced two cotton mutant varieties, namely
NIAB-KIRAN and NIAB-414. These mutant varieties have been
grown and tested in greenhouse condition at NIA. The mutant
plants were grown in bags containing 20 kg of soil in the
greenhouse. The experiment was designed as Completely
Randomized Design (CRD) with 4 replicates. The results
revealed that the two mutants NIAB-KIRAN and NIAB-414 grows
faster and flowered earlier than the local control variety (28-TD4).
Interestingly, NIAB-KIRAN produces higher number of fruits per
plant than NIAB-414, whereas the control plant did not produce
any fruits at the 60-day-old stage. Even though NIAB-414
showed lower yield than NIAB-KIRAN, it is more tolerant than
NIAB-KIRAN and 28-TD4 in regard to insect susceptibility. Newly
isolated mutants NIAB-KIRAN and NIAB-414 are suitable to
greenhouse condition in Cambodia’s climate, and further
experimenting is required in order to evaluate the adaptation of
these two mutants in the wide-open environment.