以棉花细胞质雄性不育系、保持系、恢复系及杂种F1的花瓣、花药、柱头、蜜腺、苞叶和叶片为材料，测定和比较了各材料的总糖、蔗糖和果糖含量，观察和分析了三系杂交棉制种田中蜜蜂造访的数量与制种产量性状的相关性。试验结果表明：不育系的花瓣、苞叶、蜜腺可溶性总糖和蔗糖含量比可育的恢复系、保持系和F1的含量高，并达到显著或极显著水平，而果糖含量差异不明显。其中，不育系花器蔗糖含量是影响蜜蜂造访制种田蜂群量和不育系结铃率的关键因素；选育花器含糖量高的不育系，有利于提高制种田中的蜜蜂数量，增加不育系的结铃率，以及降低其不孕子率，提高制种产量。

利用棉花细胞质雄性不育系及其恢复系，配制海岛棉与陆地棉种间杂种和陆地棉与陆地棉种内杂种，并以常规棉品种作为对照，比较和研究了两类组合的优势表现。结果表明，利用细胞质雄性不育的海陆种间杂种在株高、果枝数、果节数、单株结铃数和不孕子率上显著的高于陆地棉种内杂种，但单铃重和衣分则显著地低于陆地棉种内杂种，单铃重前者最高为3.3g，后者最低也有4.7g。一般地，海陆种间杂种的小区皮棉产量显著低于陆陆种内杂种，但也有个别组合，如海陆1号的皮棉产量，与陆地棉品种中棉所12和陆陆种内杂种浙杂166没有显著差异。在品质性状方面，海陆种间杂种在长度、整齐度、比强度、伸长率和麦克隆值都显著的好于陆陆种内杂种，尤其在长度、比强度和伸长率上最高分别达到35.3mm、43.6cN·tex-1和7.8%。

A fiberless seed mutant (fl) was identified in a commercial cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) variety Xu-Zhou 142 (FL). This phenotype is associated with lack of fiber cell initiation in the outer integument of the ovule, as was characterized by analysis of genes related to fiber differentiation and development. Two genes, fl-E6 and FL-E6, were cloned from fl-integument cells and FL-fiber or integument cells, respectively. Compared with FL-E6, fl-E6 showed a dramatic change in nucleotide sequence: (1). FL-E6 contained a tandem repetitive sequence in which GGCTCA (Gly-Ser) is repeated five times between the 82nd and the 93rd codon from the first ATG codon, while in fl-E6 the same sequence is repeated four times;(2). The fl-E6 gene encodes a polypeptide of 241 amino acids but lacks two codons between the 90th and 93rd codon and three between the 171st and 174th relative to FL-E6;(3). There are also 12 nucleotide substitutions which would result in 7 amino acid differences between fl-E6 and FL-E6. Analysis of RT-PCR and Northern Blot showed that expression of the fl-E6 gene is suppressed in the fl-integument cells, but highly expressed in FL-fiber cells. The difference between fl-E6 and FL-E6 may be associated with lower expression of fl-E6 in the fl-integument cells. Searches of protein databases with the FL-E6 gene sequence showed similarity to the protein backbones of two arabinogalactan-proteins (AGPs), one from the filtrate of suspension-cultured cells of Pyrus communis (AGPPc2) and the other from Nicotiana alata (AGPNa2). Although the function of the FL-E6 protein in differentiation and development of cotton fiber cells is not known, the data indicate that the mutation of fl-E6 gene from FL-E6 gene may inhibit the fiber cell initiation from epidermal cells of the outer integument of the ovule.

利用棕色棉细胞质雄性不育系和恢复系配制的19个杂种F1表现出显著的杂种优势，平均单株铃数和皮棉产量比棕色棉对照品系G008分别增加3.9个和增产15.21%，其中9个组合的增产幅度为15.57-48.11%。尤其是ZJ12×ZJ02组合的皮棉产量较常规推广良种“中棉所12号”增产4.10%。在纤维品质上，与棕色棉对照比较，有8个组合的纤维长度显著增长2.6-4.8mm，幅度为10.48-19.35%；比强度增加0.1-2.9cN/tex，其中4个组合增幅为10.79-16.48；马克隆值低0.5-1.7，降幅为26.00-34.00%。在浙江大学农业试验站的制种田，不育系分别与保持系、恢复系按2:1比例间隔种植，昆虫自然传粉，能得到高的异交率。不育系的繁种产量和杂种的制种产量分别为1948.5千克/公顷和1282.5千克/公顷，杂种F1的皮棉产量与亲本相比超亲优势达36.1%。研究表明利用棉花细胞质雄性不育的杂种优势在改良彩色棉产量和品质上有显著作用。

对棕色棉细胞质雄性不育系和保持系的小孢子发生进行了细胞学观察。结果表明，棕色棉不育系小孢子发生败育的时期是在造孢细胞增殖至小孢子母细胞进行减数分裂的整个过程。造孢细胞和小孢子母细胞退化导致雄性不育的主要细胞形态学特征是：造孢细胞核仁增大、细胞质液泡化和细胞形状畸形，还有因核仁物质弥散而使整个细胞染色较深；核仁穿壁很普遍；多核仁、细胞核核膜消失、细胞质液泡化；染色体行为异常；不育系花药小孢子母细胞成半月形；小孢子母细胞互相粘连成巨型团块；小孢子母细胞胞壁消失，核高度液泡化；彩色棉细胞质雄性不育花药内的造孢细胞和小孢子母细胞的败育与绒毡层的过早退化密切相关。