PRODUCTION OF NON-GLANDULAR TERPENOID ALDEHYDES WITHIN DISEASED SEEDS AND COTYLEDONS OF GOSSYPIUM-HIRSUTUM-L

Cottonseed and cotyledons of germinating seedlings [of cultivars ''TAMCOT SP-37'' (glanded) and ''Rogers GL-6'' (glandless)] were examined for the presence of fungal-induced, nonglandular, toxic terpenoids. The terpenoid aldehyde hemigossypol was produced in cottonseed during exposure to 9 days of nearly continuous rainfall in the field. No productions of terpenoid aldehydes was observed in mature seeds weathered under normal rainfall or deteriorated by Aspergillus niger at constant 20% seed moisture. Hemigossypol and gossypol were produced in isolated lesions and vascular tissues of cotyledons of glandless seedlings inoculated with conidia of Verticillium dahliae and Colletotrichum dematium. Because terpenoids are formed in deteriorating seeds only under extremely moist conditions conducive to germination of rapid deterioration, they should not be a problem in the use of glandless cottonseed for food.