Genetic dissection of the introgressive genomic components from Gossypium barbadense L. that contribute to improved fiber quality in Gossypium hirsutum L.

We crossed Luyuan343, containing the Gossypium barbadense (GB) genomic component, with Lumianyan22, a high-yielding Gossypium hirsutum (GH) variety, to evaluate the introgressive exogenous genomic components that contribute to fiber quality in upland cotton. A total of 158 of 334 mapping simple sequence repeats (SSR) loci screened from 18,467 SSR primer pairs were identified as putative GB introgression loci. Twenty-four quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for fiber quality and lint percentage were detected by WinQTLCart 2.5 based on three phenotypic datasets collected over 2 years in two different locations. Of these QTLs, 20 were mapped in the introgression chromosomal regions; the GB alleles contributed to improved fiber quality at eight loci, which were located in the introgression segments of chromosome (Chr.) 3, Chr.7 and Chr.25. A total of eight digenic epistasis and nine significant QTL × environment (QE) interactions were identified by QTLNetwork-2.2. Fiber elongation was found to be most easily influenced by environment since all QTLs for this trait showed significant QE interaction with large effects. Fiber length, fiber strength, and lint percentage were scarcely affected by environment as no or minor QE interaction effects for these traits were detected. Genome-wide identification of the introgressive GB components and mapping of the fiber-related QTLs indentified in this study will be beneficial for the simultaneous marker-assistant selection of improved fiber quality and lint yield in upland cotton breeding.