Post by philagardener on Feb 22, 2017 6:24:15 GMT -5
Promiscuously pollinated cotton! That's a thread we can follow!
There is some evidence that insect activity may increase seed set, but in general pollen flow is very limited in both amount and distance for this crop.
I'm going to give her story an unabashed plug (I do not know her personally; it just resonates for me); she recently had a successful crowdfunding campaign to jump-start her breeding work, which is really great to see.
Along the way, she encountered a lot of pressure about growing near commercial growers of white cottons who feared her gene flow would contaminate their crops (although she says those concerns were unfounded because they all largely self-pollinate). Turns the tables on the normal case where smallholders get sued for "stealing" intellectual property when GMO pollen drifts in from big ag next door . . .
