Cotton is a mycotrophic plant in which growth and nutrient uptake is usually, increased by mycorrhizal colonisation (Nehl et al. 1998).

From a humanised viewpoint cotton may be thought of as a lazy plant. It "employs" microscopic fungi to do some of the hard work of collecting nutrients from the soil.

In common with about 80% of all plants, cotton forms VAM (vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizas). VAM are associations of soil-borne fungi with the roots of plants.