GENETIC VARIABILITY AND CORRELATION ANALYSIS IN UPLAND COTTON

The study was carried out to determine the genetic variability, correlation and regression coefficient of the seed cotton yield with various morphological and yield contributing traits in five upland cotton cultivars. The cultivars viz; CIM-473, CIM-496, CIM-499, CIM-506 and CIM-707 were sown in a randomized complete block (RCB) design with four replications at NWFP Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan during May 2005. All the genotypes revealed highly significant differences (P 0.01) for monopodia and sympodia per plant, bolls per plant and seeds per boll, while the plant height, first internode length, boll weight and seed cotton yield per plant manifested significant variations among the cultivars. Boll per sympodia was having non-significant differences in mean values. All the parameters manifested positive correlation with seed cotton yield except monopodia per plant and first internode length. Cultivar CIM-499 performed well by having better boll set, early maturity and increased seed cotton yield, while other four cultivars were having statistically at par seed cotton yield. During future breeding programme the yield related traits may also be kept in mind during making selection as they were the major attributes of the seed cotton yield.