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GENETIC ANALYSIS FOR FIBER QUALITY TRAITS OF SOME COTTON GENOTYPES

MUHAMMAD ASIF, JAVED IQBAL MIRZA¹* AND YUSUF ZAFAR

Abstract: Cotton is the basis of our national textile industry and a major source of foreign exchange. Cotton fiber quality is the physical properties related to its spinnability into yarn and textile performance. Nineteen cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) genotypes were screened for fiber length, fiber fineness and fiber strength. Fiber length ranged from 23 to 30 mm with mean value of 27.6 mm. Similarly, fiber fineness was variable with average micronaire reading of 4.75. Differences in fiber strength were also ranging from weak (80 tppsi) to very strong (99 tppsi) fiber. Analysis of variance depicted considerable variations in these three main fiber quality traits among 19 cotton genotypes. Coefficient of variability was 5.4%, 6.13% and 4.5% for fiber length, micronaire and fiber strength, respectively. Highly significant negative correlation was found between fiber length and fiber fineness (r = -0.850), while highly significant positive correlation was observed between fiber length and fiber strength (r = 0.712). Fiber fineness was significantly and negatively correlated with fiber strength (r = -0.499). On the basis of fiber analysis of quality traits two contrasting cotton genotypes viz., FH-883 and FH-631S were selected for further genome mapping studies.

National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Faisalabad, Pakistan,

¹Department of Botany, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan.

*Corresponding author: jimirza@yahoo.com