Interrelationship analysis of yield and fiber traits in promising genotypes of upland cotton

The present research was carried out at the experimental farm of Nuclear Institute of Agriculture, Tandojam during the year 2014, in order to work out the correlation and regression analysis in yield and fiber traits in promising genotypes of upland cotton. The research was carried out in randomized complete block design with three replications. The experimental materials composed of ten cotton varieties. Total nine traits were studied such as plant height (cm), sympodial branches plant-1, bolls plant-1, boll weight (g), seed cotton yield plant-1(g), ginning outtern percentage (GOT%), staple length (mm) and seed index (100-seed weight, g). Analysis of variances revealed that significant differences (P ≤0.05) existed among the varieties for all the studied traits, showing the availability of substantial genetic variability among the genotypes. Consequently, these promising cultivars can further be utilized in different breeding programs to improve yield and fiber quality traits in upland cotton. Correlation analysis showed that sympodial branches plant-1(r=0.421*), bolls plant-1 (r=0.732**), boll weight (r=0.476*) and staple length (r=0.812**) made significant and positive associations with seed cotton yield plant-1. Thus, selection for these traits will ultimately increase the chances to improve seed cotton yield plant-1. The coefficient of determination (r2) further suggested that greater portion of total variability in seed cotton yield plant-1 was attributable to sympodial branches plant-1, bolls plant-1, boll weight and staple length. Correlation and regression analysis suggested that sympodial branches plant-1, bolls plant-1, boll weight and staple length was the most important yield components traits which could be exploited as selection criteria for further improvement of cotton genotypes.