Molecular Microbiology Research, 2025, Vol.15, No.2, 69-81 http://microbescipublisher.com/index.php/mmr 76 5.3 Evaluation of breeding effectiveness and promotion potential The selected excellent families were tested in small areas in different ecological zones such as Korla, Xinjiang, Liaocheng, Shandong, and Anyang, Henan. The results showed that their disease index was generally lower than that of the local main varieties by more than 15%, and the field performance was stable (Guo et al., 2022). Especially in the highly susceptible areas of Xinjiang, the disease suppression effect is more significant, and it has good adaptation to the local climate and soil. In terms of agronomic traits, these families generally show high boll formation rate, moderate plant height and good fiber quality. Their length, specific strength and micronaire value all meet the superior standard, which is equal to or slightly better than the control varieties (Abdelraheem et al., 2019). This shows that the disease resistance trait is not at the expense of economic traits, but achieves both disease resistance and high yield. The results of economic analysis show that planting disease-resistant lines can reduce the use of pesticides by 1-2 times per mu, reduce costs by about 50 yuan, and increase yields can bring economic gains of more than 300 yuan per mu (Zhao et al., 2023). This provides a direct impetus for farmers to promote its use. In the feedback from the trial planting of enterprises and cooperatives, farmers unanimously believe that it has strong resistance, simple management, high economic benefits, and has the potential for widespread promotion. 5.3 Evaluation of breeding results and promotion potential Through the study of two representative genes, GhLAC15 and GhAMT2, it can be seen that in cotton breeding for Verticillium wilt, the connection between gene positioning, functional verification and variety improvement is constantly strengthening. This process from laboratory results to field application not only verifies the disease resistance of a single gene, but also injects new impetus into the entire disease resistance breeding system. In the GhLAC15 study, although the researchers did not directly construct commercial breeding materials, they clarified the core role of this gene in the lignin accumulation process through functional verification. This discovery provides a practical basis for the subsequent enhancement of cell wall defense through transgenic or epigenetic regulation (Zhang et al., 2019). If the genotypes with naturally high expression of GhLAC15 are screened in the cotton breeding population, and combined with agronomic traits such as fiber quality and yield for comprehensive selection, it is expected that practical varieties with both disease resistance and commercial traits will be cultivated in the future. In contrast, the research on GhAMT2 is closer to actual breeding applications. The QTL locus where this gene is located has stable resistance expression under multiple environmental conditions. Its wide adaptability in 355 germplasm materials makes it an ideal target for molecular marker development (Wang et al., 2025). In actual breeding, breeders can use the SNP marker of GhAMT2 for early seedling resistance screening, thereby shortening the breeding cycle and improving the efficiency of offspring breeding. Although there are no public reports of commercial varieties based on GhAMT2, some research teams have incorporated it as a core locus into the MAS-assisted aggregation breeding process, which is expected to play an important role in the subsequent breeding of new varieties resistant toVerticilliumwilt. In addition, from the perspective of variety promotion, the application value of this type of disease-resistant gene is also reflected in reducing pesticides and harm. Preliminary experiments have shown that in strains with GhLAC15 expression advantage or GhAMT2 major effect loci, cotton's natural resistance to Verticilliumwilt is significantly enhanced, and the number of pesticide spraying can be reduced by about 20%~30% in conventional production, thereby reducing agricultural inputs and environmental pressure (Rani et al., 2021). At the same time, disease-resistant varieties also show better growth uniformity and field consistency, which are suitable for large-scale planting and mechanized management. However, it should also be noted that this type of molecular breeding technology still faces some challenges. For example, genetic differences between different pathogenic fungi may still cause a single resistance gene to fail, and a multi-gene aggregation strategy must be used to construct broad-spectrum resistance. In addition, if genes
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