Cotton has been cultivated for about 7000 years by many civilizations around the globe commonly with 4 species, namely Gossypium hirsutum, Gossypium barbadense, Gossypium arboretum, and Gossypium herbaceum. World cotton acreage is 31.2 million ha producing 22.6 million Mt lint fiber in 21 countries in（USDA data 2015-16). Among the top five cotton producing countries (USA, 3.3m ha), four are in Asia, i.e., India (11.8m ha), China (3.45 m ha), Pakistan (2.8m ha), Uzbekistan (1.28m ha).

 

Biocentury ventured into the cotton seed business in 2004 and become the largest cotton seed company in China in 2007. Conventional germplasm improvement, inbred breeding and hybrid testing have been carried out in 5 breeding stations to be adapted to different geological and climate conditions. In addition, cotton transformation, marker-assistant breeding and DNA finger printing have also been used to speed up the breeding process and ensure genetic purity of both parental line and commercial seeds.

 

Bicentury has one of the strongest breeding pipeline in the Chinese cotton seed industry. Biocentury has 20% market share in the Yangtze River Region primarily with hybrid cotton, 8% market share in the Yellow Reviver Region with both hybrid and OP cotton, and 5% market share in Xinjiang predominantly with OP varieties. As Xinjiang will be the future cotton production market, Biocentury has accordingly developed suitable varieties for mechanization, high yield and good quality.