Biodiversity-Informed Breeding Pathways for Nutritious, Disease-Resilient, and Climate-Smart Cotton Varieties

Agriculture today faces a set of intertwined challenges—climate change, soil degradation, increasing disease pressure, and persistent nutritional deficiencies. These issues make it clear that simply focusing on yield is no longer enough. Cotton, although primarily known as the world’s leading fiber crop, plays a growing role in food, feed, and oil production. This opens an opportunity to rethink cotton improvement through approaches that draw on biodiversity and nature-based solutions, not only to support productivity but to strengthen ecosystem health and human well-being.

In this work, we explored the potential of diverse cotton germplasm, including wild relatives and traditional landraces, to identify traits related to disease resistance, climate resilience, and improved seed nutritional profiles. Field evaluations under low-input and stress-prone conditions helped us pinpoint accessions that naturally tolerate major biotic stresses—such as viral diseases and insect pressure—while also showing promising levels of seed protein and oil content. We also examined root characteristics and rhizosphere interactions to better understand cotton’s compatibility with beneficial microbes, recognizing that plant–microbe partnerships are an important part of resilient production systems.

The early results show that a biodiversity-informed breeding strategy can contribute to reducing pesticide use, lowering production costs, and improving soil and ecosystem health. In addition, adding nutritional value to cottonseed and diversifying cotton by-products offer promising economic benefits for farming communities. Our participatory selection work emphasized farmer input and respected local knowledge, reinforcing the importance of seed sovereignty as part of sustainable agricultural development.

Overall, our experience demonstrates that cotton can be part of future climate-smart, biodiversity-supporting food and fiber systems. When breeding strategies intentionally integrate resilience, nutrition, and ecological principles, the crop becomes a contributor not only to fiber markets but to soil health, climate adaptation, and community livelihoods. Policy incentives and certification schemes that recognize biodiversity gains could help accelerate adoption and ensure that nature-based advances translate into real benefits for farmers and ecosystems alike