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RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)
Contents Vol 76(10)

Breeding commercially adoptable cotton resistant to reniform nematode

Shiming Liu https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5098-3103 A * , Dinesh Kafle https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1009-3867 B , Linda Smith https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8629-9610 B , Damien Erbacher C , Iain Wilson https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4626-8059 D and Warwick Stiller A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Narrabri, NSW 2390, Australia.

B Department of Primary Industries, Ecosciences Precinct, 41 Boggo Road, Dutton Park, Qld 4102, Australia.

C Dawson Ag Consulting, 444 Colombo Road, Lonesome Creek, Qld 4719, Australia.

D CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.

* Correspondence to: shiming.liu@csiro.au

Handling Editor: Marta Santalla

Crop & Pasture Science 76, CP25064 https://doi.org/10.1071/CP25064
Submitted: 14 March 2025  Accepted: 5 September 2025  Published: 9 October 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Context

The reniform nematode has become a major constraint in central Queensland cotton regions. This prompts a need to develop resistant cotton to control its ongoing impact and spread.

Aims

This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of imported resistances to local reniform nematode and demonstrated a breeding approach to develop high-performance resistant cotton with the current genetically modified traits.

Methods

Two introduced resistance sources, in either exotic or local genotypic backgrounds, were tested in infested fields to quantify their effect on suppressing reniform population in soils. Backcrossing was employed to transfer the resistance into elite genotypic backgrounds and the resultant lines were tested and selected in a yield test system to identify high-performance lines.

Key results

In the infested fields, the resistance from Gossypium barbadense, namely Renbarb, was more capable than Renlon from G. longicalyx, in suppressing the increases of the reniform nematode population, and offered better early plant growth. Three repeated backcrosses were found to be minimally required to re-assure yield potential of the derived families and/or lines with resistance comparable to a recurrent parent. The best lines with Renbarb exhibited higher yields than the commercial varieties in non-infested field conditions and had improved fibre properties.

Conclusions

High-performing cotton resistant to reniform nematode was developed through incorporating the effective resistance into elite genotypic backgrounds and exploiting within-family variation.

Implications

Breeding and deploying the resistance should enhance ongoing farm productivity by minimising the impact and spread of reniform.

Keywords: backcross, fibre quality, Gossypium barbadense, G. hirsutum, lint yield, marker-assisted selection, nematode resistance, Rotylenchulus reniformis.

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