Breeding of brown cotton for spinnable yarn in intraspecific and interspecific hybrids (G. hirsutum L. and G. barbadense L.)

Abstract

The negative association between pigmentation and fiber quality characters negatively affects the success of coloured fiber cotton breeding. Unfavourable linkage can be broken by crossbreeding multiple genotypes with different genetic backgrounds. We crossed two brown varieties with two white barbadense and four white hirsutum varieties. In 2022, twelve hybrids and their parents were grown in Randomized Complete Block Design with four replications. Variance analysis of line × tester showed that the differences among genotypes, parents and crosses were highly significant for seed cotton yield (SCY), ginning out-turn (GOT), fiber quality parameters and colour parameters such as L* , a* and b* . Among brown colour cotton genotypes, Gelincik formed the best hybrids with barbadense varieties, Giza-75 and Bahar-82, in terms of fiber colour and quality parameters. The significant and positive standard heterosis for seed cotton yield per plant and fiber length were recorded in Gelincik × Bahar-82 hybrids. Giza-75 and Bahar-82 were good general combiners for fiber length and strength. Gelincik × Bahar-82 and Gelincik × Giza-75 with acceptable colour values and superior fiber quality traits were found to be usable both for pedigree selection and for further studies on the use of hybrid varieties. Therefore, we highlighted that barbadense varieties must be included in breeding coloured fiber cotton.