Improving genetic base of Gossypium barbadense for developing potential inter specific hybrids

Abstract

The present study was carried out at the Main Agricultural Research Station, Dharwad during kharif 2012. The experimental material comprised 45 Gossypium barbadense genotypes, which were evaluated for variability for yield and yield components to know the improvement made over commercial check (Suvin) and to identify lines suitable for development of inter specific hybrids. Out of 10 characters studied in 46 potential Barbadense lines, seed cotton yield, number of bolls per plant and number of monopodia per plant recorded high PCV and GCV indicating that substantial variability exists for these characters and also higher heritability was recorded for these characters. The mean performance of Barbadense genotypes indicated that YBD- 10 recorded the highest mean value for seed cotton yield followed by YB-IPS 14 andYBD-18. The genotypes YB-IPS 14, DBSI-75-10,1 and RHCB – 010 exhibited high fiber length and strength. The potential lines YB-IPS 14 and YB-IPS 25 are examples for blending of both yield and fiber quality.

Keywords

• Gossypium barbadense
• PCV
• GCV
• heritability