Early and rapid flowering coupled with shorter boll maturation period offers selection criteria for early crop maturity in upland cotton.

Abstract

In upland cotton, crop maturity is influenced by a number of physiological, phenological, morphological and environmental factors. Selection for this complex trait in segregating populations may be misleading if proper understanding of the direct and indirect effects of these traits is not appropriately understood. Correlation and path analysis techniques were utilized to construct selection criteria to identify early maturing segregants. Results depicted higher genotypic correlations as compared to the phenotypic ones suggesting substantial environmental influence. Earliness index was observed to be negatively correlated with all the traits evaluated except with number of fruiting points on the longest sympodia. Based on path analysis two selection criteria for earliness were evident. First; early and rapid flowering coupled with shorter boll maturation period and the second; low node number of first sympodia coupled with lower number of main stem nodes. Simultaneous improvement in seed cotton yield and earliness of crop maturity required a compromise and determination of a critical point where seed cotton yield and earliness could be maximum.