Cotton cultivar L-403

A method of introducing a desired trait into cotton cultivar L-403, wherein the method comprises:

• (a) crossing a L-403 plant, wherein a representative sample of seed was deposited under NCIMB No. 41768, with a plant of another cotton cultivar that comprises a desired trait to produce progeny plants wherein the desired trait is selected from the group consisting of male sterility, herbicide resistance, insect resistance, modified fatty acid metabolism, modified carbohydrate metabolism and resistance to bacterial disease, fungal disease or viral disease;
• (b) selecting one or more progeny plants that have the desired trait to produce selected progeny plants;
• (c) crossing the selected progeny plants with the L-403 plant to produce backcross progeny plants;
• (d) selecting for backcross progeny plants that have the desired trait and the physiological and morphological characteristics of cotton cultivar L-403 listed in Table 1 to produce selected backcross progeny plants;
• and
• (e) repeating steps (c) and (d) two or more times in succession to produce selected fourth or higher backcross progeny plants that comprise the desired trait and essentially all of the physiological and morphological characteristics of cotton cultivar L-403 listed in Table 1.