GENETIC BASIS OF DROUGHT TOLERANCE IN COTTON (Gossypium hirsutum)

Abstract

Cultivation of cotton is very old (Kohel and Lewis, 1984). The time when cotton fibre was first used by human is not known. However, it is known that civilizations on both Eastern and Western Hemispheres of the world cultivated cotton. The first written record of cotton is found in the Hindu Rig Veda, written during the 15th century B.C. During this period cotton spinning and weaving was well known. During 800 B.C. Manu ordained that the sacred thread which every Brahmin had to wear must be made of cotton. The first cotton fabric date back to approximately as early as 3200 B.C., as revealed by fragments of cloth found at the Mohenjo-Daro archaeological site on the banks of the River Indus in Pakistan. Peruvian archaeological excavations found cotton specimens that had been fabricated into textiles as far back as 2500 B.C. The latest attempt to trace the history of cotton growing and art of spinning was made by Silow (1944) and Stephens (1947). There are wild species of cotton in all the continents except Europe. The old world cotton probably originated somewhere in the Southern half of Africa and spread Eastwards. The new world cotton is supposed to have originated in Peru, Ecuador, and Columbia region and hence its use in this region considered to be very ancient.