The Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station announces the release of a noncommercial breeding line of cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., designated Arkot 8606, which was derived from a cross of ‘DES 119’ (Bridge, 1986) and Miscot 7813 (Bourland, 1987). Arkot 8606 (tested as 8606-50) was an F₃ individual plant selection made in 1988 using procedures of Bird (1982) modified to permit selection for lateral root development. The line was evaluated in replicated field tests at four Arkansas Agricultural Research Station sites in the Mississippi River Delta from 1991 through 1996 and again in 2000.