Full Length Research Paper
Abstract
Increase in seed cotton yield on a sustainable basis is a primary objective of cotton breeding programs, which is a result of an effective exploitation of quantitative (polygenic) traits. The diallel cross techniques is mainly applied for studying the nature of action and genetic constitution of cotton genotypes. Six cotton varieties were crossed in a complete diallel fashion to study the inheritance of seed cotton yield and its components, lint percentage and fiber length. Field evaluation of six parental genotypes and thirty F1 was made in a randomized block design with three replications. Genotypes mean values differed significantly (P≤0.05) for all traits and greater than the dominance component (H1 and H2). The dominance effect H1 and H2 was non significant for number of bolls per plant and fiber length. The value of H2/4H1 indicated a symmetrical and unequal distribution of dominant genes in the parents for all traits except for lint percentage as the H2/4H1 value 0.24 is very close to 0.25, which indicated symmetrical and equal distribution of dominant genes in the parents for lint percentage. Estimates of narrow sense heritability (h2n.s) were higher for all the traits that are due to additive gene action. The results of the present study indicated that the pedigree of progeny selection will be helpful to improve these traits.
Key words: Cotton genotypes, diallel cross, Gossypium hirsutum L, heritability, seed cotton, genetic studies, yield components.
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