Objective The objective of this study is to make full use of cotton germplasm resources and promote fiber quality breeding in the hope of providing suitable spinning and high-quality fiber raw materials for the textile industry.

Methods 180 collected cotton germplasm resources were applied as research materials to analyze their main fiber quality traits.

Results 8 quality traits of 180 cotton resources variations ranged from 1.29% to 20.33%. There were significant differences in fiber quality traits among different materials and the genetic variation of tested materials was rich. The correlation analysis showed that fiber length was significantly positively correlated to textile consistency index, fiber strength and uniformity index. Uniformity index was significantly positively correlated to textile consistency index, fiber strength and breaking elongation. Fiber strength was significantly positively correlated to textile consistency index. Breaking elongation was significantly positively correlated to maturity index. Maturity index was significantly positively correlated to micronaire. Principal component analysis divided fiber quality traits into three principal components, which might be regarded as textile consistency index factor, maturity index factor and micronaire factor. The cumulative contribution rate of the extracted three principal components was 89.65%. Cluster analysis classified the 180 tested materials into five clusters based on the two-years average of 8 fiber quality traits.

Conclusion The participating cotton germplasm resources are rich in genetic diversity, and the 8 quality traits of 180 cotton resources display a higher genetic variability. By cluster analysis, the 180 participating materials are divided into 5 categories. In practice, it can be comprehensively analyzed and utilized according to the target use, so as to provide the textile industry with excellent quality and spinning fiber raw materials.