Estimations of fibre trait stability and type of inheritance in cotton

Traits affecting fibre quality were evaluated in a multi-location environmental experiment. Four main cotton regions in Greece were selected as different environments. Five commercial cotton cultivars were used for evaluation of 10 fibre quality traits. Each cultivar was sown in 10 different fields in each region. Environmental fluctuations within regions affected each quality trait differently showing a different degree of inheritance. Four traits showed the lowest stability index values indicating quantitative inheritance, further four traits with intermediate values indicated determination by a few genes, while the more stable and thus with qualitative inheritance traits were considered to indicate fibre maturity and uniformity. The mean estimation of stability in multi-location experiments was found the same as in multi-genotype evaluation. Two cultivars (Elsa and Celia) were found to be more stable across the Greek environments and two regions favoured stability for almost all traits. Correlations between regions were high and the same was found between genotypes.