Studies on Genetic Variability for Earliness, Yield and Fibre Quality Traits in American Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)

Fourty diverse genotypes of American cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) were evaluated during kharif, 2024 to estimate genetic variability parameters i.e., coefficient of variations, heritability in broad-sense and genetic advance as percent of mean for 18 traits. The analysis of variance revealed that significant amount of variation among the genotypes for all traits studied. The variability estimates showed that the phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was higher than the genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all traits, indicating environmental influence in expression of the studied traits for all the genotypes. Notably, the number of monopodial branches plant-1 exhibited high PCV as well as high GCV, indicated the existence of wide range of variability. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percent of mean was recorded for number of monopodial branches plant-1, number of bolls plant-1 and seed cotton yield. This indicates that additive gene action predominantly governs the expression of these traits, suggesting that direct selection would be effective for their genetic improvement.