Phenotypic stability of hybrids and their parents for seed cotton yield and its components in Desi cotton (G. arboreum L.)

The phenotypic stability of 83 genotypes of Asiatic Cotton (60 hybrids and 23 parents) grown over six different environments was studied for four characters, viz. days to flower initiation, plant height, No. of bolls and seed cotton yield/plant. Variances due to genotypes, environments, G x E interactions, and pooled deviation were significant for all the characters. Most of the variation could be attributed to the differences between the linear slopes of regression for these characters. The nonlinear component of G x E interaction was also substantial for plant height. In general, the genotypes with relatively high performance possessed low stability, except the hybrid RG-10 x G-27 (dwarf) which had highest mean with high stability. The most stable genotypes for different characters were BH-113 for earliness, RG-10 x G-27 for dwarfness, and BH-113 x Lohit for balls/plant and seed cotton yield/plant.