The impact of severe drought (water withholding) on protein synthesis during cotton (Goss L. var. DPL 51) seed development was examined, using potted plants of identical age grown under glass. In this study we tested the hypothesis that severe drought directly affects the developmental program for seed ripening. Flowers at anthesis were tagged and labelled, as to branch and boll position. Following exposure of fruiting cotton plants to fifteen days severe drought, developing seeds from bolls of different ages were separated into cotyledon and axis and each tested for capacity to incorporate radio labeled methionine into protein. Embryos used for radiolabeling were excised from ovules in the maturation period of seed development, i.e. 20 to 40 days post anthesis (DPA). In control ovules incorporation of label into lower molecular weight polypeptides, as viewed in radioautographs of dried gels following SDS-PAGE, was clearly evident in cotyledons and, to a lesser degree, in radicles at approximately 35 DPA. Radioautographic data for drought-stressed ovules indicate that similar incorporation of label into low molecular weight polypeptides occurred in 15 DPA ovules exposed to 15 days of drought stress. The earlier incorporation of radiolabel into low molecular weight polypeptides in the weight range of late embryogenesis abundant proteins suggest that drought stress effects an earlier transition in the developmental program to that of post abscission and desiccation.