ASSESSMENT OF YIELD AND QUALITATIVE TRAITS OF VARIOUS ADVANCED LINES OF COTTON (Gossypium hirsutum L.)

Abstract

The present study was conducted at Cotton Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Tandojam during the Kharif season, 2023, with the objective of evaluating the yield and quality attributes of selected advanced cotton lines (Gossypium hirsutum L.). The analysis of variance revealed that traits such as plant height (cm), number of sympodial and monopodial branches plant^-1, number of bolls plant^-1, boll weight (g), seed cotton yield plant^-1 (g), and ginning out turn GOT (%) exhibited highly significant differences (p<0.01), while staple length (mm) and seed index (g) showed no statistically significant variation. In terms of average performance, genotype PC/35/23 was characterized by a shorter plant height (83.67 cm), the highest GOT % (42.05), and the most sympodial branches (19.00). The highest monopodial branches plant^-1 (2.33) was observed in PC/30/23, whereas PC/33/23 had the fewest (1.00). PC/31/23 produced the most bolls plant^-1 (22.00), and PC/34/23 yielded the highest seed cotton output (66.19 g). Furthermore, seed cotton yield plant^-1 demonstrated a statistically significant positive correlation with plant height (r = 0.571**), boll weight (r = 0.674**), and staple length (r = 0.474*). Heritability estimates indicated strong genetic control for plant height and seed cotton yield plant^-1, moderate for boll weight and sympodial branches plant^-1, and lower for bolls plant^-1. Overall, PC/35/23 showed superiority in fiber quality traits such as GOT % and staple length, while PC/34/23 stood out in terms of productivity.