Hypoxia tolerance studies for yield, fiber and physiological traits in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)

Background: Hypoxia tolerance studies in cotton are very rare in Pakistan. Unpredicted and excessive rainfalls result in severe losses to cotton crop in many regions of the country due to lack of hypoxia tolerance in current cotton varieties. The genotypes that can tolerate flooding are not reported earlier. The studies were conducted to explore hypoxia tolerance in local germplasm which will help to develop hypoxia tolerant cotton varieties. Method: An experiment with randomized complete blocks was designed to study the hypoxia tolerance in different cotton varieties. The genotypes were given two treatments i.e., water logged and non-water logged conditions. Results: The genotypes showed significant variability for yield, fiber and physiological traits. The hypoxia studies revealed that there is significant reduction for plant height in water sensitive genotype LRA-5166. The genotype MNH-786 showed better yield and MNH-556 showed superior ginning outturn percentage under water logged conditions. Staple length, strength and micronaire values also decreased under hypoxia. Similar pattern of negative effects were observed for Chlorophyll a, b contents and chl a/b ratio. Two hypoxia tolerant cultivars CIM-573 and MNH-564 had significantly higher chlorophyll a (1.664, 1.551) than other cultivars under both normal and waterlogged conditions. There was a significant decrease in total free amino acids in all genotypes/cultivars due to waterlogging. Free amino acid contents were significantly higher in two waterlogging sensitive cultivars, CEDIX and N-KRISHMA, than other cultivars under both non-waterlogged and waterlogged conditions. Waterlogging caused a significant reduction in shoot soluble proteins and increase in shoot proline. The genotype LRA-5166 was the highest in shoot soluble proteins content and showed significant decrease in shoot proline. Conclusions: With respect to yield MNH-786 showed better results and regarding ginning outturn percentage MNH-556 exhibited superior performance. The genotypes CIM-573 and MNH-564 showed higher chlorophyll a values. The above said genotypes may be exploited for further studies related to hypoxia tolerance. © 2018, The Author(s).