ESTIMATION OF HETEROSIS AND HETEROBELTIOSIS FOR YIELD AND FIBER TRAITS IN F1 HYBRIDS OF UPLAND COTTON (GOSSYPIUM HIRSUTUM L.) GENOTYPES

Heterosis and heterobeltiosis were estimated for eight yield and fiber traits in nine F1 hybrids of upland cotton. Genotypes were highly significant (P?0.01) for all the characters thus indicated existence of greater genetic variability among the genotypes for studied traits. On the basis of mean performance, the parental line Sadori showed best performance for some traits (sympodial branches plant-1, bolls plant-1, boll weight, seed cotton yield plant-1 and lint %). Among the F1 hybrids, the hybrid BT-802 x Sadori performed well for various traits (plant height, bolls plant-1, boll weight and seed index). Results regarding heterotic performance in F1 hybrids, maximum heterosis and heterobeltiosis were achieved for sympodial branches plant-1, bolls plant-1, boll weight, lint% and seed cotton yield plant-1. Positive heterosis over mid- and better parents for seed cotton yield plant-1 ranged from 32.86 to 57.26% and 12.33 to 42.69%, respectively. Overall, current study demonstrated that female lines, NIA-OKRA-01 and BT-802, exhibit greater heterosis and heterobeltiosis in crosses with Sadori and IR-3701 for seed cotton yield plant-1 and fiber traits. Therefore, above parental lines could efficiently be exploited for hybrids development in cotton crop.