A group of Texas Tech University (TTU) researchers genetically modified cotton plants to doubled fiber yields for cotton grown in semi-arid climates like those found on the Texas High Plains Hong Zhang, a TTU professor of Plant Molecular Biology and Plant Biotechnology, genetically modified a cotton variety with fiber yields 133 percent higher than that of wild-type (natural, typical form) cotton in West Texas dryland farm conditions during the first year of his current research project. Zhang noted it was a very dry year, but the following year, when conditions were wetter, the modified variety still outperformed the wild type by 81 ...