Cotton is one of those commercial crops for which research and development effort in productivity and quality improvement began way back in the 18th century. The first such attempt was by none other than the British East India Company which saw the opportunity of producing cotton in India to feed the British textile industry.
So it introduced the American cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) to India to improve the quality of the produce. Subsequently, Indian scientists took up this work and introduced, though much later, the sought-after Egyptian cotton (G barbadense). These, coupled with the short staple cottons grown locally as Bengal cotton (G arboreum) and other desi types lent diversity to the Indian cotton scenario.
As a result, India is among the few countries where all the major types of cotton
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