Heterosis and Combining Ability for Seed Cotton Yield and Component Traits in Inter Specific Cotton Hybrids (Gossypium hirsutum L. x Gossypium barbadense L.)

Forty five inter specific hybrids between G. hirsutum X G. barbadense derived from nine diverse female parents of G. hirsutum and five pollen parents of G. barbadense were evaluated to study heterosis and combining ability for seed cotton yield and its component traits. Significant heterosis was observed for the characters under study indicating the presence of genetic diversity among the parental lines. The hybrid (G. 67 x GSB 19) exhibited significant positive heterosis over the standard check hybrid for seed cotton yield per plant. Combining ability analysis suggested the preponderance of non-additive type of gene action for all the traits except average boll weight. The female parent G. 67 was found to be the best general combiner for majority of the traits; while, male parent GSB 19 was good general combiner for seed cotton yield per plant and its component characters viz., average boll weight and lint yield per plant. The hybrid G. 247 x Suvin exhibited significant positive sca effect for seed cotton yield per plant and its attributing traits except plant height.