Investigating the second whitefly population outbreak within a decade in the cotton growing zone of North India.

The whitefly, (Gennadius), is a polyphagous and major pest of cotton worldwide. Both adults and nymphs of affect the crop by causing direct and indirect damage. A severe whitefly outbreak was experienced during 2015 on cotton in North India and this was followed by a profound infestation during 2022.

Functional genomics of fuzzless-lintless mutant of Gossypium hirsutum L. cv. MCU5 reveal key genes and pathways involved in cotton fibre initiation and elongation.

Background: Fuzzless-lintless cotton mutants are considered to be the ideal material to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in fibre cell development. Although there are few reports on transcriptome and proteome analyses in cotton at fibre initiation and elongation stages, there is no comprehensive comparative transcriptome analysis of fibre-bearing and fuzzless-lintless cotton ovules covering fibre initiation to secondary cell wall (SCW) synthesis stages. In the present study, a comparative transcriptome analysis was carried out using G.