Assessment of yield components and fibre quality traits in an introgressed population derived from Gossypium hirsutum and G. barbadense

The introgressed populations developed from crosse between Gossypium hirsutum and G. barbadense were used to assess genetic variation for yield components and fibre quality traits. A difference among introgressed lines and parental lines was significant for all traits except sympodial branches, node number, uniformity index and fibre elongation. The lines with high ginning outturn showed higher values for plant height, seed index and lint index than the lines with cluster boll bearing, round boll lines and fibre length-strength lines. However, the majority of introgressed lines had lower values for boll number and seed cotton yield as compared to the parental lines Suraj and NH 615. For fibre strength and ginning outturn, the lines viz., CNH 31-90 and CNH 29-90 had higher fibre strength of 30.5 and 30.1 g/tex, respectively. CNH 19-5 (35.8 mm) and CNH 19-4 (33.9 mm) showed higher values for fibre length which was significantly higher than the variety Suraj (31.6 mm). Similarly, CNH 29-90 (30.1 g/tex), CNH 31-90 (30.5 g/tex) as well as CNH 19-4 and CNH 42-6 (29.9 g/tex) displayed higher values for fibre strength. Lines viz., CNH 44-31, CNH 47-31, CNH 19-4, CNH 19-5 and CNH 42-6 were identified for a desirable combination of yield and fibre quality and ginning percentage. CNH 31-90, CNH 33-94 and CNH 48-4 had a combination of fibre quality and high ginning percentage. In the majority of lines, the mean values for fibre length and strength were the most biased towards the G. hirsutum variety Suraj and NH 615. Fibre quality traits viz., length and strength, were highly and positively correlated (0.41) suggesting that selections can be made for simultaneous improvement of fibre length and strength. Fibre length (-0.04) and fibre strength (-0.06) had a lesser negative association with seed cotton yield indicating breaking of strong negative correlation between yield and quality (either length or strength) in interspecific lines between G. hirsutum and G. barbadense. Key words: Correlations, Fibre quality, G. barbadense, Introgression lines, Yield components, Upland cotton