Keerti Rathore, a Texas A&M AgriLife plant biotechnologist, and his team have worked for 25 years to discover a way to take the toxins out of the seed but still leave enough gossypol to protect the crop from insects. The team has now made Texas A&M University the third American university to receive FDA approval for this type of project, with the other two projects focusing on papayas.
"Once this technology is adopted by the farmers, they should benefit from it tremendously," said Rathore. "Our farmers hardly get any money for their seed, it only pays ginning cost from what I've heard. If farmers adopt it, it will become a dual-purpose crop for them - it will be grown for the fiber and, my hope is, it's grown for the seed just as much."
Patrick Stover, vice-chancellor and dean for A&M's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of AgriLife Research, said in a statement earlier this month that this is research with a direct, positive impact on the world's food supply.
"This demonstrates how we can make a difference in enhancing the nutritional quality of the food system for those in greatest need, while enhancing the profitability of agriculture production," Stover said. "Our goal is to advance sustainable agriculture in Texas and around the world, and this new protein source is yet another step in that direction."
Last fall, A&M announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved Texas A&M AgriLife Research to pursue the commercialization of cottonseed as a potential food source.
At the time, Texas A&M University Chancellor John Sharp, who oversees A&M AgriLife Research as well as 11 universities and seven state agencies, said in a statement last that Rathore's work will have a dramatic effect across the world.
"The work and dedication of Dr. Rathore has paid off," he said. "He and his team exemplify the values of the Texas A&M System, and because of them, more than half a billion people across the world may have access to a new form of protein, and our farmers will be able to earn a much better living."
News of the development has created buzz in the cotton industry and producers on the South Plains and Panhandle told they A-J they were looking forward to seeing the impact Rathore's work.
"This is a really exciting opportunity for cotton," Shawn Wade, director of policy analysis and research for Plains Cotton Growers, said last October. "Hopefully, it will be something that will eventually benefit the growers of the South Plains. It's an exciting time for the food industry as a whole."
Rathore said most cotton farmers get their seeds from companies that market for a variety of traits that their crop can use, which can cause hesitation for the ultra-low gossypol seed because it's focused solely on eliminating the toxins by using gene-silencing technology.
"We have used biotechnology, which is more precise to silence the gene only in the seed, but the rest of the plant still has all the defensive capabilities," said Rathore. "No matter what the weather conditions are, it should not affect this particular trait."
Part of the inspiration for the project was finding that cottonseed can compete with soybeans for being a strong source of protein. According to Rathore, cottonseed has about 23 percent protein and, paired with the global amount of 47 million tons of seed, could contain 10.8 trillion grams of protein.
"If you take that protein and use it for human nutrition, you can meet the basic protein requirements of over 500 million people," said Rathore, who added it makes cows convert protein more efficiently. "As the use of cottonseed expands to other animals or used in human food, the value of the cottonseed should go up and translate to better income for our farmers."
While it may still be extra time before farmers are able to purchase the cottonseed and benefit from it, Rathore said he was grateful for the funding and support from farmers through Cotton Incorporated for the last 13 years of research.
"The funding has basically come from all the American cotton farmers, so I'm deeply grateful for their support," said Rathore.
©2019 Amarillo Globe-News, Texas. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
