SEED COTTON YIELD ANALYSIS OF CANDIDATE COTTON VARIETIES TESTED IN NATIONAL COORDINATED VARIETAL TRIAL (NCVT) DURING 2021-22

Seventy two candidate cotton varieties consist of four sets i.e. Set-A, Set-B, Set-C and Set-D were tested against two standard varieties. These sets were sown at six locations in Punjab and one location in KPK to test the adoptability of seed cotton yield (kg/ha). Qualitative and quantitative assay of these Bt cotton candidate varieties was performed to check the presence and quantity of gene/event at four designated labs. The results revealed highly significant differences among the cultivars for seed cotton yield per hectare in both provinces (Punjab and KPK). In Set A, Cyto-227 (1640 kg/ha) remained the top performing candidate variety in Punjab and Cyto-230 (2789 kg/ha) was at 1st position in KPK. In Set-B, the candidate line ICS-386 (2268 kg/ha) performed best followed by CIM-600 (2167 kg/ha) and CKC-7 (2127 kg/ha) in Punjab whereas, the line TEVC-49 (2313 kg/ha) out yielded all other candidate lines in KPK. Likewise, in Punjab set-C the candidate variety FH-416 surpassed the yield from other candidate varieties followed by Cyto-541 (2256 kg/ha) and SAS-1 (2213 kg/ha) and in KPK FH-938 (2378 kg/ha) remained the highest yielder. In Set-D, the cultivar IR NIBGE-17 (2282 kg/ha) remained the best performer followed by Cyto-537 (2130 kg/ha) and ASPL710 (2083 kg/ha)in Punjab.