GENETIC VARIABILITY STUDIES OF SEED COTTON YIELD AND FIBRE QUALITY IN UPLAND COTTON (GOSSYPIUM HIRSUTUM L.) GROWN UNDER SALINITY STRESS

Cotton is a dynamic fibre crop in the world. It is susceptible to salinity stress, a major abiotic factor affecting crop growth, yield and fibre quality. In present study, six cotton genotypes were crossed in half diallel fashion to obtain 15 F i hybrids. Parents and their F 1 were sown under three salinity levels i.e. normal (S1 = 3.7 dSm(-1)) moderate (S2 = 10 dSm(-1)) and high (S3 = 15 dSm(-1)) following split-plot arrangement under completely randomized design. Three salinity levels were maintained in main plot while 21 genotypes (15 F-1 and 6 parents) were sown in the subplot. Three replications were maintained for all parents and their F-1 crosses. At maturity, data were recorded for seed cotton yield, fibre length, fibre strength and fibre fineness for parents as well as for crosses. The data were analyzed using the Griffmg approach to determine the combining ability effects and genetic components. Parent CIM-602 followed by FH-142 showed good GCA performance for all the observed traits at different levels of salt stress. MNH-886 X CIM-616 and CIM-616 X CIM-602 were best specific combiners for most of the traits under normal and salinity stress. While FH-142 X CIM-602 was the best specific combiner for fibre quality traits under all treatments. Further utilization of these genotypes might be helpful for the development of salt-tolerant cultivars.