The 1.3 billion pounds of cottonseed (Gossypium hirsutum L.) oil produced each year makes it the third leading vegetable oil in the U.S.�� The cottonseed processing industry is a $1.2 billion industry and provides up to 15% of the gross return on cotton production.� However, it takes twice as much photosynthetic energy to make one unit of cottonseed oil as it does to make one unit of lint.� Because the oil is produced during seed maturation when cotton fiber is being formed, reducing the oil content of cottonseed has increased fiber production.� Recently, the rapidly increasing price of fossil fuels has created an opportunity to produce "Biodiesel" from cottonseed oil.� Research at Texas Tech University over the past decade has identified two separate genetic mechanisms which could significantly increase the yield of cottonseed oil and potential biodiesel production.� Direct selection in chemically mutated populations of upland cotton has identified six M8 lines which increase seed oil content.� A second mutation essentially eliminates residual lint on the surface of the cottonseed which could enhance extracted oil yield from cottonseed by 10% while significantly reducing the cost of oil extraction.� Incorporation of these two relatively simple genetic modifications into cotton varieties could increase the� yield potential biodiesel by over 20% while maintaining current lint yields and fiber quality.� These simple inherited traits which increase biodiesel production can be quickly incorporated into both stripper and picker varieties to help ensure the continued production and economic viability of cotton.