DUS characterization of upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) elite genotypes by qualitative characters

Abstract

Characterization of any variety or hybrid is must to know its novelty for the registration and notification. In the present investigation, experiment consisting of 86 genotypes was carried out during kharif 2017 at Cotton Research Area, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar. Observations were recorded for qualitative traits of cotton on the basis of guidelines provided by PPV and FRA for DUS testing. Twenty morphological characters were studied out of which only nine characters i.e. leaf colour, leaf hairiness, leaf appearance, stem hairiness, flower petal colour, flower stigma, pollen colour, boll shape, boll tip showed significant variation and no variation is recorded for remaining eleven characters. On the basis of nine traits all the genotypes were clustered intro six groups. Out of those, cluster I (27) and cluster II (33) are the major clusters with 70 genotypes in them while cluster IV and VI had only three genotypes each. The variability in these characters can be used in hybridization program for selection of desirable parents.