The reproductive and damage potential of the reniform nematode, Rotylenchulus reniformis, on five cotton breeding lines reported as tolerant to this nematode in Texas were compared with two standard cotton cultivars, Deltapine 50 and Stoneville LA 887, in a North Carolina field naturally infested with R. reniformis. Numbers of R. reniformis in soil were suppressed at mid-season, and cotton-lint yield was increased by preplant fumigation with 1,3-dichloropropene. Population densities of R. reniformis at cotton harvest were unaffected by fumigation in 1998, but were affected in 1999. Some of the putatively tolerant breeding lines supported lower levels of R. reniformis and had higher tolerance indices to reniform nematode than the standard cultivars, but the yields of the breeding lines were significantly lower than the standard cultivars. Fumigation resulted in a 100- to 200-kg/ha increase in cotton lint yield for cultivars LA 887 and Deltapine 50.