Selection Response for Improving the Performance of Egyptian Cotton under Late Planting and Soil Moisture Stress

Abstract

Twenty-seven F4 progenies of individual selections and unselected bulks, either irrigated normally or stressed, were evaluated in early and late summer plantings. The objectives of this study were to elucidate the efficiency of direct and indirect individual selection in some Egyptian cotton segregating populations for reliable performance under harsh environmental conditions. The cotton plants of F4 produced higher lint yields under early sowing with either normal or stressed watering regimes (EN and ES) than those that were planted under late sowings or combined across all environments. Direct selection is better than indirect selection to improve the lint yield and boll weight under normal watering regimes and for the seed index and lint index under stressed watering regimes with either early or late sowing. The maximum relative expected correlated response to direct selection gain was obtained for the L% trait under ES.

Keywords

• Egyptian cotton
• <i>Gossypium barbadense</i>
• selection gain
• crop resilience
• correlated response
• variation