Pollen from cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) cultivars, which demonstrate heat tolerance in the field, generally express higher fertility after heat treatment than pollen from heat sensitive cultivars. The objective of this study was to determine, if pollen could be heat treated to eliminate all but those grains with genetic heat tolerance. Genes for heat tolerance could then be selected in the pollen and effectively transferred by the backcross method. A highly heat tolerant breeding line, 7456, of G. barbadense L. was used as the donor parent and 'Paymaster 404', a heat sensitive cultivar, as the recurrent parent and all crosses were made with pollen treated 15 h at 35 °C generate F₁, F₂, and first and second backcross populations. Increased heat tolerance, as measured by fertile pollen after heat treatment, was observed in plants from all populations. Similar heat tolerance patterns were observed in the parents, F₁, F ₂, and first backcross populations, when plants were grown to maturity at high temperatures in a growth chamber. Pollen selection through heat treatment allows screening for large numbers of genetic combinations in pollen and may be a valuable method of breeding for heat tolerance and possibly other stress tolerance characteristics.