Abstract

                                Estimation of correlation coefficients in 15 parental genotypes revealed positive influence of boll weight, plant height, number of bolls per plant and days to maturity on seed cotton yield. In hybrids, number of bolls per plant and lint index were the most important characters which influenced the yield directly or indirectly. All the characters except days to first boll bursting and seed index had significant and positive correlation with seed cotton yield at the genotypic and phenotypic levels in parents. In hybrids, plant height, number of sympodia per plant, number of bolls per plant and boll weight had positive association with seed cotton yield at both the levels. In parents, colour of the lint had a positive correlation with fibre fineness and ginning outturn at the genotypic level while it was negatively correlated with bundle strength both at genotypic and phenotypic level. The colour of lint had negative relationship with 2.5 per cent span length and bundle strength in the hybrids, the respective genotypic and phenotypic correlation coefficients being negative. The association analysis showed the necessity for employing special techniques to break the linkage between lint colour and fibre quality in the breeding programme to evolve colour cotton varieties.

Key words :