Association Analysis for Economic Traits in Upland Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)

Abstract

Background: Gossypium hirsutum, the most widely cultivated crop in the world has concurrent importance for both fibre quality and yield. Polygenes regulate cotton output and a variety of factors affect the characteristic. As a result, it is essential to have thorough knowledge of the relationships between different component traits and fibre quality. Thus, the aim of the study was framed to know about the correlation along with cause-and-effect relationship among the economic traits. Mathod: Eight parents and 56 hybrids made up the experimental sample for our study, which were evaluated for 18 economically significant traits. The study was conducted at Department of Cotton, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, in 2021-2022. Results: Analysis of variance was highly significant for all the traits studied. The result of correlation revealed that the traits viz., number of bolls per plant, boll weight, number of seeds per boll, upper half mean length and fibre strength had a high magnitude of positive correlation with seed cotton yield at both genotypic and phenotypic levels. Path analysis represented the direct effects of upper half mean length, uniformity index, number of bolls per plant, number of seeds per boll and fibre strength on seed cotton yield. Hence, these traits can be used as selection criteria for yield improvement in cotton.