Abstract: A method is disclosed for producing a transgenic cotton plant comprising the steps of (a) obtaining cottonfibrous root explants, (b) culturing the fibrous root explants to induce callus formation, (c) exposing root callus to a culture of Agrobacterium tumefaciens that harbors a vector comprising an exogenous gene and a selectable marker, the Agrobacterium being capable of effecting the stable transfer of the exogenous gene and selection agent resistance gene to the genome of the cells of the explant, (d) culturing the callus in the presence of the selection agent to which the selection agent resistance gene confers resistance so as to select for transformed cells, (e) inducing somatic embryo formation in the selected callus culture, and (f) regenerating the induced somatic embryos into whole transgenic cotton plants.