A Homozygous Interspecific F2 Hybrid of Gossypium Barbadense ✕ Gossypium Hirsutum via the Semigametic Haploid Method1

The semigametic phenomenon, which allows the production of haploid plants of any specific cotton breeding strain, was used to produce a haploid plant from a male gamete of an interspecific hybrid between Gossypium barbadense L. and Gossypium hirsutum L. The treatment of this haploid plant with colchicine, doubled the chromosome number, giving an immediate early generation pureline hybrid. This study demonstrates the usefulness of the semigametic phenomenon in producing a genetically stable breeding line in two generations from interspecific crosses.