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Pak. J. Bot., 48(6): 2297-2305, 2016.

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NIAB-852: A NEW HIGH YIELDING AND BETTER FIBRE QUALITY COTTON MUTANT DEVELOPED THROUGH POLLEN IRRADIATION TECHNIQUE

SAJJAD HAIDAR*, MUHAMMAD ASLAM AND M. AHSAN UL HAQ

Plant Breeding and Genetics Division, Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology,

P.O. Box 128, Jhang Road, Faisalabad, Pakistan

^*Corresponding author’s email: sajjadhaidar_pk@yahoo.com

Abstract

The new high yielding and better quality cotton mutant NIAB-852 was developed through pollen irradiation technique. This paper describers about the development of cotton mutant through induction of mutations and its evaluation. A cross between NIAB-78 (local variety) and REBA-288 (exotic line) using gamma irradiated male pollen @ 10 Gray (Gy) of gamma rays before cross pollination was attempted. The objective was to create new genetic variability and select the desirable new cotton mutants. After irradiation followed by hybridization subsequent generations were raised to investigate the effect of irradiation treatment. Significant variations from control/parents were observed. From M₁ generation, the M₂ population was grown and different desirable mutants having higher yield, early maturity, resistance/tolerance to diseases were selected. These were evaluated for yield potential and desirable other economic traits in different generations till uniformity were achieved. From selected mutants, an elite mutant i.e. NIAB-852 was finally selected for further evaluation. It has a suitable plant type, better leaf foliage, moderately hairy, early maturing and higher yield potential with acceptable fiber quality traits. It was evaluated for seed cotton yield, adaptability, resistance/tolerance to diseases, and fibre quality in different trials. It produced 16.4% higher seed cotton yield as compared to standard variety CIM-496 in local trials at NIAB. It also produced higher seed cotton yield in regional (23.4%), provincial (18.6%) and national (26.8%) coordinated adaptability trials compared with standard.  On an average of all trials, NIAB-852 produced seed cotton yield of 3153 kg.ha^-1 compared to standard CIM-496 (2674 kg.ha^-1) producing 18.0% higher seed cotton yield. It also performed better than standards in different regions/provinces by producing 4% to 17% higher seed cotton yield. The mutant NIAB-852 has desirable fibre quality traits i.e. GOT 38.8 %, fibre length 30.1 mm (long staple category), fibre fineness 4.68 µg/inch, uniformity index 83.1%, fibre maturity 81.1% and fibre strength 94.3 TPPSI. It has characteristics of good boll bearing, rapid boll formation at later stages and better tolerance to cotton leaf curl virus (CLCuV) disease and insect’s pests due to early maturity. From these results it is concluded that low dose pollen irradiation technique in cotton has effectively stimulate/increase the agronomical characters and tolerance to disease.

Key words: Mutant, Cotton, Pollen irradiation, Yield, Fibre quality, Long staple, NIAB-852.