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GENETIC VARIABILITY AND HERITABILITY IN UPLAND COTTON

NAQIB ULLAH KHAN¹, GUL HASSAN², KHAN BAHADAR MARWAT², FARHATULLAH¹, SUNDUS BATOOL¹, KHADIJAH MAKHDOOM¹, IMTIAZ KHAN², IJAZ AHMAD KHAN² AND WAQAS AHMAD³

Abstract: The research work comprising of genetic variability, heritability and correlation study for seed cotton yield and its components in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) cultivars was carried out during 2005 at the NWFP Agricultural University Peshawar, Pakistan. Cultivars mean values manifested highly significant differences for all the traits except locules boll^-1. Genetic potential of cultivars for different parameters revealed plant height (137.30 to 155.30 cm), bolls sympodia^-1 (2.28 to 3.31), bolls plant^-1 (14.00 to 25.95), boll weight (3.07 to 4.16 g), locules boll^-1 (4.30 to 4.48) and seed cotton yield (1200 to 2450 kg ha^-1). Genetic variances were found almost greater than the environmental variances for all the traits except bolls sympodia^-1 and locules boll^-1. High broad sense heritability (H²) and genetic gain were recorded for plant height (0.94, 9.41 cm), bolls sympodia^-1 (0.81, 0.44), bolls plant^-1 (0.96, 6.63), boll weight (0.96, 0.64 g) and seed cotton yield (0.98, 643.16 kg), respectively. Correlation of seed cotton yield with other different traits was found significantly positive for majority of traits i.e., plant height (r = 0.560), bolls sympodia^-1 (r = 0.158), bolls plant^-1 (r = 0.820) and boll weight (r = 0.476). This type of correlation is desirable by cotton breeders and little genetic gain in bolls per plant, boll weight and bolls per sympodia is a great accomplishment. Cultivars CIM-499 CIM-473, CIM-496 and CIM-506 have larger genetic potential and room for enhancement of seed cotton yield and its attributes under the prevailing environmental conditions of Peshawar, Pakistan.

¹Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, NWFP Agricultural University Peshawar 25130, Pakistan,

²Department of Weed Science, NWFP Agricultural University Peshawar 25130, Pakistan,

³Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, NWFP Agricultural University Peshawar 25130, Pakistan.