Combining ability and heterosis for seed cotton yield, its components and quality traits in Gossypium hirsutum L.

The present study is aimed to estimate general combining ability of the parents and specific combining ability and heterosis of hybrids for seed cotton yield and fibre quality traits. Three female lines crossed with six testers in line x tester fashion. Analysis of variance for combining ability indicated the predominance of non-additive gene action for all the characters under study except plant height, 2.5% span length and oil content. The parents AK032 and AK053 among the lines and DR-7R among the testers were found to possess significant GCA effects for most of the yield contributing characters. Maximum heterosis for seed cotton yield per plant was recorded by AK023 x DR-7R over the standard check. The highest significant heterosis in desirable direction for fibre strength was recorded by AK023 x DR-7R followed by AK023 x AKH-976 over the check.