Abstract

Cotton is the primary source of valuable textile fiber, belongs to the Malvaceae family and the genus Gossypium. Cotton is widely referred to be a problem plant because it is a high maintenance crop that is influenced by a variety of biotic and abiotic variables that significantly reduce cotton output each year. That’s why there is continuous need to develop varieties with high seed cotton yield and CLCuD resistance. The study is planned to determine the combining ability effects of parental lines and crosses in upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) using line x tester mating design. The four lines Kehkashan, Tarzen, BS-80, CRS-2 and four testers MNH-998, NS-131, AGC-2, KZ-191 were crossed in line tester fashion to study the genetic analysis of different yield related traits in cotton and CLCuD resistance. Four lines were crossed with four testers at the time of flowering in line × tester design in glass house. Eight parents along with 16 crosses (F1) were grown in the field with three replications by using a randomized complete block design. Among lines CRS-2 showed significant GCA effects for plant height and number of sympodial branches, boll weight while line Tarzen showed highly significant GCA effect for plant height and number of bolls. A significant GCA result was observed for Kehkashan and BS-80, showing that both lines combine well for number of bolls. Among testers, KZ-191 showed a highly significant GCA effect for seed cotton yield, boll weight, while MNH-998 showed highly significant GCA effects for plant height and sympodial branches. The tester AGC-2 showed highly significant GCA for number of sympodial branches. Tester NS-131 showed emerged out as a good general combiner for fiber maturity and fiber elongation. Among crosses Kehkashan x AGC-2 showed significant SCA for plant height, boll weight and kehkashan × NS-131 for plant height. Other crosses CRS-2 × AGC-2 showed significant SCA for sympodial branches, ginning out turn while Kehkshan × KZ-191 proved good SCA for monopodial branches per plant. The results showed that germplasm has potential for development of cotton varieties, and may be used in cotton breeding program.