The detection of the pollen viability and correlations among characters in hybrid cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) populations

Objective: It was aimed to define the variation within population and heritability for yield and quality characters, to determine the correlations between observed traits and to screen pollen viability in terms of heat tolerance in cotton. Material and Methods: The parents including 5 line and 2 tester (Gossypium hirsutum L.) were crossed, F1 populations were selfed and 10 different F2 populations were obtained. Together with the parents, a total of 17 genotypes were planted as progeny rows. The coefficient of variation, broad sense heritability and ranges of yield, yield components and fiber quality traits were determined in 50 randomly obtained plants from each plot. Simple correlation coefficients and path analysis were used to determine the relationships between characters. The pollen viability was monitored by tetrazolium test after high temperature stress at 40 °C was applied to pollen of genotypes. Results: The coefficient of variation for plant height, days to first squaring, days to first flowering, days to first boll opening, ginning out-turn and fiber strength was below 10; between 10 and 20 for fiber fineness, whereas it was above 20 for boll weight, boll number, single plant yield and fiber length. The broad sense heritability was found to be high for plant height, boll number, boll weight, ginning out-turn, fiber length, fiber fineness and fiber strength. The most important direct effects on single plant yield are the number of bolls, boll weight, number of boll opening days and plant height. Conclusion: ST-468 x AGC-208 F2 hybrid combination performed well in terms of yield and fiber quality characteristics with sufficient extreme values for single plant selection, and was the most promising genotype in terms of pollen viability at high temperature.