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GENETIC LINKAGE STUDIES OF DROUGHT TOLERANT AND AGRONOMIC TRAITS IN COTTON

TANWIR AHMAD MALIK¹, SANA-ULLAH¹, AND SAMINA MALIK²

Abstract: Genetic linkage among drought tolerant (relative water content, excised leaf water loss, stomatal size and stomatal frequency) and agronomic traits (fiber fineness, fibre strength, fiber length, number of bolls per plant, bolls weight, ginning out-turn, number of monopodial branches per plant and number of sympodial branches per plant) in upland cotton was studied by calculating the correlation matrix of a population of four parents and their F₁ hybrids. Relative water content (RWC) positively correlated with boll weight but negatively correlated with fiber length. Stomatal size had negative correlation with ginning out-turn (GOT). The stomatal frequency and excised leaf water loss revealed non-significant relationship with all the characters under study. The RWC and stomatal size had also non-significant relationship with number of bolls per plant, number of sympodial branches, number of monopodial branches, fiber fineness and fiber length. Negative correlation of RWC with fibre length showed linkage of genes for lower fibre length with the genes responsible for maintaining high RWC. However, negative correlation of stomatal size with GOT is favourable. The genotypes with lower stomatal size would help reduce transpiration rate and hence would show improved drought resistance as well as would yield high GOT.

¹Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan
² Department of Botany, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan
Corresponding Author: Tanwir Ahmad Malik; tanwirm@hotmail.com