Abstract：Increasing yield and reducing labor input are the main directions of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) production. Plant architecture is a key factor affecting cotton mechanical harvesting and yield, and breeding cotton varieties with ideal plant architecture has been an important breeding goal. Cotton plant architecture is jointly controlled by genotype and environmental conditions, belongs to a quantitative trait with a complex genetic background and lacks major QTL for application in plant architecture breeding of cotton and so it is difficult to improve plant architecture by conventional breeding methods. This review summarized the latest research advances in the laws of inheritance, the analysis of regulatory mechanisms, and QTL mapping and gene discovery of cotton plant architecture traits. This work clarified the molecular mechanism of the formation of cotton plant architecture traits and provides references for the molecular breeding of cotton plant architecture.
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