Winter irrigation is an effective means of salt leaching, but the long-term effect on salinity is unclear. In 2008–2019, three different soil types of farmlands were selected as the study area by drip irrigation under film mulch combined with periodic winter irrigation in the non-growth period. The salinity of 0–150 cm as well as the survival rate and yield of cotton in the non-growth and growth periods were monitored, respectively. The mass fraction of soil salt decreased rapidly under winter irrigation, and then, the salt content in each observation layer increased with years of cultivation. After 10 years of application, the soil salt content basically stabilized at a low level. In 2008, the salinity of the 0–150 cm observation layer of loamy clay, loam, and sandy loam varied within 6–60, 10–65, and 4–22 g·kg⁻¹; after four winter irrigations in 2019, corresponding values dropped below 5.74, 3, and 4.76 g·kg⁻¹, respectively. The salinity returns rate of the different observation layers all exceeded 40%. The desalination rate of the different soils after four winter irrigations all exceeded 63.52%. Cotton survival rate and yield in different soils were directly proportional to each other. After the second winter irrigation, the survival rates on the different soils all exceeded 60%. The results of this study can provide technical support for the sustainable development of different types of soil, farmers’ income increase, and salinization land improvement.

TEOSINTE-BRANCHED1/CYCLOIDEA/PCF (TCP) transcription factors play an essential role in regulating various physiological and biochemical functions during plant growth. However, the function of TCP transcription factors in G. hirsutum has not yet been studied. In this study, we performed genome-wide identification and correlation analysis of the TCP transcription factor family in G. hirsutum. We identified 72 non-redundant GhTCP genes and divided them into seven subfamilies, based on phylogenetic analysis. Most GhTCP genes in the same subfamily displayed similar exon and intron structures and featured highly conserved motif structures in their subfamily. Additionally, the pattern of chromosomal distribution demonstrated that GhTCP genes were unevenly distributed on 24 out of 26 chromosomes, and that fragment replication was the main replication event of GhTCP genes. In TB1 sub-family genes, GhTCP62 was highly expressed in the axillary buds, suggesting that GhTCP62 significantly affected cotton branching. Additionally, subcellular localization results indicated that GhTCP62 is located in the nucleus and possesses typical transcription factor characteristics. The overexpression of GhTCP62 in Arabidopsis resulted in fewer rosette-leaf branches and cauline-leaf branches. Furthermore, the increased expression of HB21 and HB40 genes in Arabidopsis plants overexpressing GhTCP62 suggests that GhTCP62 may regulate branching by positively regulating HB21 and HB40.

Background: RADIALIS (RAD), belongs to the MYB gene family and regulates a variety of functions including floral dorsoventral asymmetry in Antirrhinum majus and development of fruit proteins in Solanum lycopersicum. RAD genes contain an SNF2_N superfamily domain. Here, we comprehensively identified 68 RAD genes from six different species including Arabidopsis and five species of cotton. Results: Phylogenetic analysis classified RAD genes into five groups. Gene structure, protein motifs and conserved amino acid residues indicated that GhRAD genes were highly conserved during the evolutionary process. Chromosomal location information showed that GhRAD genes were distributed unevenly on different chromosomes. Collinearity and selection pressure analysis indicated RAD gene family expansion in G. hirsutum and G. barbadense with purifying selection pressure. Further, various growth and stress related promotor cis-acting elements were observed. Tissue specific expression level indicated that most GhRAD genes were highly expressed in roots and flowers (GhRAD2, GhRAD3, GhRAD4 and GhRAD11). Next, GhRAD genes were regulated by phytohormonal stresses (JA, BL and IAA). Moreover, Ghi-miRN1496, Ghi-miR1440, Ghi-miR2111b, Ghi-miR2950a, Ghi-miR390a, Ghi-miR390b and Ghi-miR7495 were the miRNAs targeting most of GhRAD genes. Conclusions: Our study revealed that RAD genes are evolutionary conserved and might be involved in different developmental processes and hormonal stress response. Data presented in our study could be used as the basis for future studies of RAD genes in cotton.

Drought stress severely constrains cotton yield and fiber quality, but conventional evaluation methods are inefficient and time-consuming. To address this, we developed a high-throughput, non-destructive phenotyping framework by integrating UAV-based multispectral remote sensing with machine learning, using 225 upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) accessions. The accessions were subjected to well-watered (CK) and drought stress (DS) treatments at the flowering and boll-setting stage. Canopy multispectral imagery (Green/Red/Red_edge/Near-infrared bands) was acquired via DJI Mavic 3 Multispectral UAV, and 16 vegetation indices (VIs) were derived. Concurrently, 15 agronomic and fiber quality traits were measured to calculate drought resistance coefficients (DRCs), which were used for principal component analysis (PCA) and comprehensive drought tolerance index (D) construction. Hierarchical clustering categorized the accessions into 6 drought tolerance grades (Groups I–VI). Variable importance analysis identified GNDVI, NGRVI, and NDRE as the most drought-sensitive VIs (% IncMSE > 11). Among four regression models (LR, KNN, LGBM, XGBoost), XGBoost achieved the best performance for D prediction (test set: R² = 0.785, RMSE = 0.032, MAE = 0.024). This study demonstrates that UAV multispectral data coupled with XGBoost enables accurate, efficient drought tolerance assessment, providing a robust tool for high-throughput germplasm screening and smart agricultural management.

To investigate the correlation of cell-surface and intracellular immune receptor genes, 29 cotton tribe species that include 28 Gossypium species and Gossy