Assessment of yield and yield related traits to determine earliness in Egyptian cotton (Gossypium barbadense, L).

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to identify elite early maturing G. barbadense genotypes by evaluating morphological and fibre quality traits advanced genotypes developed at CICR, Regional Station, Coimbatore. Ten advanced genotypes of G. barbadense genotypes viz ., CCB-5, CCB-11, CCB-17, CCB-26, CCB-27, CCB-28, CCB-29, CCB-30, CCB-33 and CCB-36 were used in this study. In the present study, analysis of variance of genotypes was highly significant for all the traits studied. Three genotypes viz ,. CCB-29, CCB-36 and CCB-5 were found to be early maturing in terms of days to first flower, lower node no to first sympodial branch, boll formation in 90, 120 and 150 days after sowing and opening of bolls in 120 and 150 days after sowing. Regarding yield traits, maximum number of bolls per plant and higher seed cotton yield were recorded in the genotypes CCB-29, CCB-36 and CCB-5. It was also observed that maximum staple length, strength and desirable micronaire were registered in CCB-29, CCB-36, CCB-5 and CCB-11. The correlation coefficients showed that the days taken to first flower, number of nodes in lower first sympodial branch, bolls formed at 150 days, number of bolls per plant have significant positive correlations with seed cotton yield. The positive correlations of yield components with seed cotton yield are reliable and more effective and efficient indicators for selecting early maturing genotypes in Egyptian cotton.