Seven plants derived from the presumptive hybrid calli
(34 clones) were successfully transferred to the soil though direct transplant and in vitro graft and grown to maturity.
Although normal, the morphology of somatic hybrid plants
differed from that of the two parental plants (Fig. 1f–h).
The hybrid plants were taller, and had a thicker stem and
leaves that were thicker and deeper green than either of the
wild-type parents. The shape of leaves also differed from
the parent lines (Fig. 1j). After 2 months in the greenhouse,
the somatic hybrids have many branches with many leaves
(Fig. 1k), after 3 months, the somatic hybrid plants reached
2 m in height (Fig. 1l) with spreading branches. They
produced many flower buds, which had abnormal calyxes,
petals, and stigma (Fig. 1i). The hybrid plants flowered, but
the stamens were withered and pollen viability was very
low (*8 %). After cross-pollination with their pollen and
application of GA3 (25 lg/mL) on the petioles of the bolls,
few seeds were obtained in these lines (Fig. 2b), covering
with light white fiber and light yellow fuzz, different with
the parental line Coker 312 (Fig. 2a) and wild cotton
G. trilobum (Fig. 2c). The progeny of these hybrids grew
with similar phenotypes to the previous generation (Fig. 1m).