Molecular Pathogens, 2025, Vol.16, No.1, 10-18 http://microbescipublisher.com/index.php/mp 13 4 Traditional Methods for Disease Control 4.1 Agricultural management practices (crop rotation and field hygiene) In cotton cultivation, some traditional methods, such as crop rotation and field cleaning, are still useful. Crop rotation means not to always grow cotton on the same land. You can change other crops that are not prone to infection, especially those that are not the “target” of bacteria. This approach can effectively reduce soil-borne pathogens like Verticillium dahliae, thereby lowering the incidence of disease. In addition, crop rotation can also increase the organic matter and beneficial microorganisms in the soil, making the soil healthier. This is especially important for arid or semi-arid areas and helps to plant cotton longer and more stable (Hailu et al., 2024). Field sanitation is also important. Removing infected leaves, stems, and rotten bolls from the field helps reduce the spread of pathogens within and between plots. 4.2 Current status and limitations of chemical control Many times, farmers use fungicides to deal with fungal diseases on cotton. These drugs do work in the short term, so they are also widely used. But the problem is that bacteria are becoming more and more “smart” and will become resistant to these drugs. In addition, chemical agents have potential harm to the environment, humans and animals, such as contamination of soil, water sources or health effects (McLaughlin et al., 2023). These questions have led people to rethink whether long-term dependence on pesticides is feasible. Now, more and more people hope to combine chemical prevention and control with other environmentally friendly and sustainable methods to form a safer and more effective disease prevention strategy. 4.3 Role of traditional breeding methods in enhancing disease resistance In addition to spraying medicine and doing a good job of management, another old method is breeding. In other words, selecting cotton varieties that are not prone to illness to plant, so that the cotton itself can be more resistant to disease. This method has actually been used for many years, especially when dealing with Verticillium wilt. But the problem now is that there are not many varieties of cotton with disease-resistant traits, and it is not easy to find good genetic resources (Zhu et al., 2023). Moreover, the breeding process is quite slow and sometimes it cannot keep up with the speed of disease changes. So now a lot of research is to use traditional breeding and modern technology together. For example, genetic engineering or RNA interference (HIGS) is used to help speed up the breeding process (Wei et al., 2020). Combining these two methods, it is expected to breed new cotton varieties that are more resistant to diseases, which can also make cotton production more stable and reliable. 5 Applications of Biotechnology in Disease-Resistant Cotton 5.1 Advances in genetic modification technologies and case studies Genetically modified technology has played a great role in improving cotton’s disease resistance. For example, the CRISPR/Cas system is a method that can accurately modify genes. It can “turn off” or adjust some key genes, thus giving cotton more ability to resist a variety of bacteria, including fungi (Bukhari et al., 2021). In addition, scientists have found many genes related to disease resistance through Genome-wide Association Research (GWAS). These genes are now used to breed to help breed new varieties of cotton that can resist Verticillium dahliae. This type of technology not only improves cotton’s disease resistance, but also makes us more clear about how cotton “deals” with pathogens (Yin and Qiu, 2019). 5.2 Application of RNA Interference (RNAi) in controlling fungal diseases RNA interference (RNAi) is also a promising disease-resistant technology. Its principle is to “quiet the important genes of bacteria” so that they cannot survive or become less toxic. For example, in cotton, there is a gene family called miR482 that regulates a type of disease-resistant gene called NBS-LRR. These genes can help cotton fight Verticillium dahliae. If well regulated by RNAi method, the cotton’s disease resistance will become stronger, but it will not affect its normal growth or yield (Wu et al., 2023). Therefore, this method is relatively "smart", highly targeted, and has few side effects. 5.3 Development and application of microbial antagonistic agents In addition to changing genes, there is a more “natural” way - use bacteria to help cotton prevent diseases. These
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ4ODYzNA==