The release of 4,000 markers from the cotton plant's genetic structure will nearly double the current knowledge base and help improve breeding efficiency, Texas AgriLife Research said Friday in a press release.

Monsanto (MON) is donating 4,000 molecular markers of the cotton genome, or the combination chromosomes that form the cotton seed. The donation will bring the total to 9,000-10,000 globally accessible molecular markers to the cotton database, centered in College Station, Texas in association with the Texas A&M University AgriLife Extension Service.

"It allows us to make selections in the laboratory of traits that lead to better yielding varieties," said John Purcell, global cotton technology lead for Monsanto.

Cotton genome mapping projects have been ongoing for eight to 10 years, said Richard Percy, research leader of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service crop germplasm research unit in College Station, which houses the cotton database. Scattered genome sequencing projects to understand the full structure the cotton genome began three years ago and were united under the ongoing International Cotton Genome Initiative, Percy said.

Despite year-on-year losses in U.S. cotton planted acres attributed to comparatively weaker market prices than alternative crops, the research will aid the efficiency through disease resistance and increased fiber quality, Percy said.

The USDA pegged 2009 cotton acreage at 8.812 million, a 7% reduction from last year and the smallest crop since 1983.

"If we can increase the fiber quality of the U.S. product, [that will give the crop a] competitive advantage," he said.

Monsanto aims to double cotton yields from the 2000 average of 632 pounds per acre. U.S. cotton yield was 810 pounds per acre in 2008, according to the USDA.

The mapping technology is being used to develop cotton breeds that protect against root-knot and nematodes. Monsanto has projects in the pipeline to integrate that knowledge into traits that protect against the pests which destroy the roots of plant and limit their production capacity, said Purcell.

Cotton traits developed through genome mapping aren't required to pass through regulatory processes, as is necessary for genetically modified varieties such as Bt cotton, because they are traits that already exist in the plant, Purcell added.

-By Holly Henschen, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2338; holly.henschen@dowjones.com