Combining Ability Studies for Seed Cotton Yield and Its Components in Desi Cotton (Gossypium arboreum L.)

Aim: The present investigation was taken up to study the general combining ability of parents and the specific combining ability of crosses for seed cotton yield and yield contributing traits. Design: In the present investigation, six lines were crossed with five testers to get thirty hybrids in a Line x Tester mating design. The sum total of thirty crosses, eleven parents with one check, were evaluated in a randomized block design with two replications. Place of study: The research work was carried out during Kharif 2024 at Cotton Research Station, Mahboob Baugh Farm, VNMKV, Parbhani. Methodology: The crosses were made using the LineXTester mating design. The analysis was carried out in a randomized block design. The observations were recorded on twelve seed cotton yield and yield contributing and fibre characters viz., days to50 per cent flowering, plant height(cm), number of sympodia per plant, number of bolls per plant, boll weight (g), seed cotton yield per plant (g), days to maturity, ginning outturn (%), Upper half mean length(mm), fibre fineness/micronaire value (g/inch), fibre strength (g/tex) and uniformity ratio Results: Analysis of variance for the mean sum of squares revealed significant differences for all twelve characters examined. The male parental line PA 08 was found to be a good general combiner for the number of sympodia, the number of bolls per plant, boll weight, and seed cotton yield/plant. The male parental line PA 402 was found to be a good general combiner for days to 50 per cent, plant height, boll weight, seed cotton yield/plant, ginning outturn, and fibre fineness. The male parental line PA 812 was found to be a good general combiner for upper half mean length and uniformity ratio, whereas AKA 2016-3 was a good general combiner for upper half mean length and fibre strength. The cross combinations PA 08 X PA 955, PA 812 X PA 950, and JLА 505 Х PA 960 exhibited significant and desirable specific combining ability effects for most of the yield and its contributing traits. Conclusion: The hybrid JLA 505 X PA 785 found a superior specific cross combination for fibre quality traits studied, indicating its potential for exploiting specific combining ability for enhancing seed cotton yield in the cotton breeding programme.