Development of a Visual Method to Quantify the Gossypol Content in Cotton Seeds

ABSTRACT Twelve Gossypium genotypes (species, fertile interspecific allotetraploid and allohexaploid hybrids, backcross progeny of interspecific hybrids) characterized by drastic differences in their seed gossypol content were used to design a visual quantification method of the gossypol concentration in cotton seeds. After developing an high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method that allowed measurement of gossypol content in single seed samples, the results of 123 HPLC analyses carried out seed‐by‐seed were compared with different parameters characterizing the level of gossypol glands in the seed. A significant correlation was found between the gossypol content %G determined on single seeds by HPLC and the number N of gossypol glands per seed section area (S, expressed in mm2), leading to the establishment of the following model: %G = bi (N/S), where the regression coefficient bi depends on the cotton genotype considered. The estimation of %G directly from N/S is a rapid and accurate method which can be used in breeding programs to screen the progeny of cotton genotypes showing a high segregation for their seed gossypol content.