Path analysis of fiber yield and quality attributes in upland cotton

Cotton being the most important fiber crop in Pakistan plays an important role in economic stability of Pakistan. Better quality and high yielding cotton varieties are needed to meet the demands of the national and international markets. An insight into the genetic diversity and correlation among the various traits related to yield is helpful in this regard. Results of path coefficient analysis revealed that petiole length, number of bolls per plant, boll weight, number of seeds and seed index played a pivotal role towards the seed cotton yield of plant as these traits exerted direct positive effect on yield while the traits viz; plant height, number of monopodia, number of sympodia, nodes on 1st fruiting branch, leaf length per width ratio, number of locks per boll, 1000-seed weight, fiber length, fiber strength, fiber fineness and GOT were found to have deleterious role towards the yield per plant as these exhibited direct negative effect on seed cotton yield.

Mr Muhammd Avais had recently completed his MSc(Hons)PBG degree from University of Agriculture Faisalabad with cgpa 3.85. In BSc(Hons), he work on different tissue culture techniques used in sugarcane propagation. Recent research work on cotton will be very helpful for cotton breeders.