Combining ability analysis for seed cotton yield and its components in upland cotton (Gossypium Hirsutum L.)

Twenty-eight intra-hirsutum hybrids from eight parents involved in half diallel crossing along with their parents were evaluated for combining ability for seed cotton yield and its component traits in three environments during kharif, 2016. The analysis of variance for combining ability revealed significant differences among the genotypes. The parents showed wide variation for most of the characters indicating diversity. Twenty four crosses had significant desirable sea effects. The best sea effects and highest perse performance for seed cotton yield/plant was observed in the crosses AKH081/PKV Rajat, AKH081/F 505, AKH081/F 1054, AKH8828/AKH9916, AKH8828/F 505, AKH8828/F 846, AKH8828/F 1054, AKH9916/PKV Rajat, AKH9916/F 846, AKH9916/F 1054, and PKV Rajat/F 1378. The parental combination was either due to high x high gca, high x low gca and low x high gca. Thus, good cross combination can be obtained when at least one of the parents have good gca effect.