We studied the effect of chemical fertilizers including urea, sulfur-coated urea, ammonium sulphate, ammonium nitrate, diammonium phosphate, triple super phosphate, potassium sulphate and potassium chloride on incidence and severity of cotton seedling damping-off, verticillium wilt and alternaria leaf blight plant diseases, yield and yield components of cotton. We stablished two separately field experiments with plats arranged in a randomized complete block design with tree replications in Karkandeh cotton research station. Siokra or Varamin cotton cultivars were planted in each field experiment. Results showed that sensivity of cultivars and effect of fertilizer treatments on incidence and severity of cotton diseases were significantly different. Ammonium nitrate and urea showed the highest and the lowest seed-rot and seedling damping-off in soil. Ammonium nitrate and urea had the highest and lowest verticillim wilt persentage, respectively

Cotton cultivar BRS 293 is a midseason high-yield cultivar and has wide adaptation to the Brazilian savanna, yield stability, desirable resistance to main cotton diseases and good fiber quality. The cultivar BRS 293 meets growers? demands for competitive lint yield as well as fulfilling industrial textile requirements. | Cultivar release.

Organic cotton production in Paraguay. 2. Agronomic limitations for a novel industry. Two main limiting factors to organic cotton production are soil fertility and pest (arthropods and diseases) management. Paraguay has begun to produce organic cotton since 2003. An exploratory study was carried out in order to have a better knowledge of the way the organic cotton production has developed and to identify economic (first paper) and agronomic limitations (this paper). In addition, this paper provides an analysis of the production of cotton-seed. The study was achieved in 2008 during the cotton harvest period by interviewing the actors from the farm to the industrial level. With more than 200 tons of cotton-seed produced since 2006-2007, Paraguay has reached the second position of South-American producers of organic cotton, behind Peru. In 2007-2008, the recorded average yield of 492 kg.ha-1 of cotton-seed has been underestimated because of sales of organic cotton to the conventional industry. Fertilization and insect pest management, especially for the boll weevil Anthonomus grandis, were based on biological approaches at the whole cropping system level. Management practices included the use of made-in-farm inputs with, according to users, a fair level of efficacy but whose actual effects are mostly poorly known. We recommend in-depth studies firstly to identify the biological pathways involved when necessary, secondly to assess the qualitative and quantitative diversity of farmers practices, and thirdly to integrate their impacts at different space and time scales.

Verticillium wilt and seedling damping-off are two important diseases of cotton in Iran. At present, using resistant cultivars and chemical pesticides are the most common methods for controlling these diseases. These methods can not be effective permanently due to the lack of stability in resistance of cultivars to diseases and pesticides. Therefore, using an integration of different management strategies is necessary. For approaching to this aim, we decided that it was necessary to conduct an extension research project based on the results of a previous research project entitled "Investigation of the effect of antagonistic fungi and weed control on the incidence of cotton Verticillium wilt and seedling damping-off diseases". For carrying out this project, first Talaromyces flavus inoculum was prepared for using in two cotton growing regions (Aslandooz and Gharebagh) of Aredebil province. Two treatments and an untreated control were placed in every region. Treatments included: 1- Soil affected by Treflan herbicide. 2- Soil affected by T. flavus inoculum and Treflan herbicide and seed affected by T. flavus inoculum. Analysis of data was carried out for seedling damping-off percent, Verticillium wilt disease severity, Verticillium wilt disease index, first harvest yield, second harvest yield, total yield and pre-maturing percent. Results showed that among two treatments and control, minimum and maximum Verticillium wilt disease severity, Verticillium wilt disease index and seedling damping-off percent were observed in treatment affected by T. flavus with Treflan herbicide and control respectively. Thus, this treatment caused maximum first harvest yield, second harvest yield and total yield in comparison with treatment affected by Treflan herbicide only and control. Maximum pre-maturing percent was observed in treatment affected by T. flavus and Treflan herbicide in Aslandooz region whereas maximum pre-maturing occurred in control in Gharebagh region.

The extent and impact of the adoption of improved technology by cotton farmers was assessed during the 2003, 2004 and 2005 crop seasons in the Nagpur and Wardha districts in Maharashtra (central India). The package of improved practices consisted mainly of recommended cultural practices, including the timely application of recommended doses of plant nutrients, the management of water, insect pests and plant diseases in rainfed/dry land, and irrigated cultivation. Precautionary measures for avoiding any possible admixture of genotypes and contamination with dust, dry leaves, pieces of plastic, etc during storage were adopted. The data in project fields compared with non-project/farmers' fields in 164 villages showed a reduction of up to 60% in the cost of plant protection in rainfed cultivation in the Wardha district. In both districts, increases of 20-46% in yield of seed cotton in rainfed and 22-52% in irrigated cultivation, and significant improvement in lint quality were noted. Overall, there was a net profit of Rs5,802-7,343/ha (US$145-184), or 47-115% in rainfed and Rs6,438-7,561 (US$161-189), or 53-55%, in irrigated cultivation in project fields over non-project fields. These tangible benefits were achieved through awareness programmes held in the project villages on the practicality and cost-effectiveness of improved technology.

Recently the world has been entangled by insufficient food such as the lack of rice which threatens the safety of world food and affect sustainable development of the world economy, resulting in rising of food price. To address this issue, cotton appears as a possible source of both fiber and food. The research in recent years indeed showed bright prospects for this expectation. However, gossypol stored in the glands of cotton is toxic to nonruminant animals and humans, which wastes large amounts of cottonseed protein that could potentially provide the annual protein requirements for half a billion people. Gossypium species are characterized by their lysigenous glands containing terpenoid aldehydes, important secondary phytoalexins consisting mainly of gossypol, which constitute one of the important plant's defense system against pests and diseases. The best approach to address this issue is to create glandless seed and glanded plant cotton. A breakthrough in this field would realise the fulfilment of making cotton both a fiber and a food crop, which would be a feat of great magnitude for sustainable development of agriculture. Research on the relationship between glands and their secondary inclusions at the molecular level would be one approach for genetic engineering to control the glands and gossypol content. In this article, we review recent progress on glands and gossypol content for diverse gland types in Gossypium species, inheritance of glands and gossypol content, traditional breeding of glandless seeds and glanded plant cotton, the terpenoid aldehyde biosynthesis pathway, molecular cloning of the related genes, the strategy for genetic engineering, and future prospects.

Recently the world has been entangled by insufficient food such as the lack of rice which threatens the safety of world food and affect sustainable development of the world economy, resulting in rising of food price. To address this issue, cotton appears as a possible source of both fiber and food. The research in recent years indeed showed bright prospects for this expectation. However, gossypol stored in the glands of cotton is toxic to nonruminant animals and humans, which wastes large amounts of cottonseed protein that could potentially provide the annual protein requirements for half a billion people. Gossypium species are characterized by their lysigenous glands containing terpenoid aldehydes, important secondary phytoalexins consisting mainly of gossypol, which constitute one of the important plant’s defense system against pests and diseases. The best approach to address this issue is to create glandless seed and glanded plant cotton. A breakthrough in this field would realise the fulfilment of making cotton both a fiber and a food crop, which would be a feat of great magnitude for sustainable development of agriculture. Research on the relationship between glands and their secondary inclusions at the molecular level would be one approach for genetic engineering to control the glands and gossypol content. In this article, we review recent progress on glands and gossypol content for diverse gland types in Gossypium species, inheritance of glands and gossypol content, traditional breeding of glandless seeds and glanded plant cotton, the terpenoid aldehyde biosynthesis pathway, molecular cloning of the related genes, the strategy for genetic engineering, and future prospects.

Experimentos conduzidos em casa de vegetação, mediante condições controladas, e em campo, sob infestação natural, foram realizados com o objetivo de testar a transmissibilidade e a reação de genótipos de algodoeiro ao que se presume ser uma nova virose, afetando algodoais, notadamente, no Estado de Mato Grosso. Os testes demonstraram que a doença - denominada provisoriamente neste trabalho, "mosaico das nervuras atípico" - tem como vetor o pulgão do algodoeiro (Aphis gossypii Glover). Genótipos de algodoeiro, compreendendo cultivares e linhagens avançadas disponíveis no Brasil, diferiram notavelmente quanto à reação ao patógeno, enquadrando-se em grupos graduais de resistência/suscetibilidade. A inexistência de correlação positiva entre a resposta dos genótipos à virose em questão e ao mosaico das nervuras f. Ribeirão Bonito ("doença azul"), corrente na região, indica que patógenos diferentes podem ser responsáveis pelas duas doenças. | Greenhouse controlled experiments and field trials, under natural infestation, were carried out in order to verify the transmissibility and the reaction of cotton genotypes to a presumed new virus disease affecting cotton crops, mainly in Mato Grosso State, Brazil. The tests revealed that the disease, which is being tentatively named "atypical vein mosaic", has as a vector the cotton aphid (Aphys gossypii Glover). Cotton genotypes, comprising cultivars and advanced lineages available in Brazil, differed considerably with respect to reaction to the pathogen; they were put in graded groups of resistance/susceptibility. The lack of positive correlation between the genotypes' response to this disease, and to the vein mosaic viruses ("blue disease") currently present in this region, indicated that different pathogens could be responsible for these two diseases.