Heterosis, Combining Ability Analysis, and Components of Genetic Variation for the Yield related Character in Cotton (Gossypium hirsulum L)

Heterosis, combining ability, genetic components, effective factor no. and heritability for yield of seed cotton per plant, boll no., seeds per boll, seed length, seed width and lint weight per boll were investigated in half diallel set of crosses involving diverse upland cultivars. Both heterosis and heterobeltiosis for yield per plant, boll number, seed length and lint weight showed significantly negative values. Both general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) showed highly significant. Overdominance was observed for yield per plant, boll number, seeds per boll and seed width, complete dominance for seed length and partial dominance for lint weight. The number of effective factor was estimated as two for yield per plant, boll number and seed length and estimated as one for seeds per boll, seed width and lint weight. Narrow sense heritability was low for yield per plant, boll number and seeds per boll. Broad sense heritability was very high for all the characters excepting lint weight.