Sustainable cotton production depends upon evolution of the crop genotypes with higher yield, improved fiber quality and better tolerance against biotic and abiotic stresses. A field experiment was conducted at department of plant breeding and genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad to access genetic divergence among 23 different genotypes of upland cotton for various yield and fiber related traits. The data were analyzed by using simple correlation coefficient, metroglyph, principal component and cluster analysis. Results from present study showed strong positive correlation (0.97) of number of bolls with seed cotton yield and also positive correlation with lint index (0.35) and fiber length (0.30); whilst fiber strength showed negative correlation (-0.45) with seed cotton yield. Amongst the seven clusters named I, II, III, IV, V, VI and VII, formed through metroglyph analysis, cluster III had maximum individual genotypic scores for various yield and fiber related traits. Principal component analysis partitioned total variability of genotypes into four PCs with the PC-1 contributing the highest (35%) towards the total variability (82.2%) with positive factor loadings of yield related traits such as number of bolls, seed cotton yield and fiber length. k-means cluster analysis grouped various studied genotypes/lines into three distinct clusters. Cluster-II and cluster-III showed better values for seed cotton yield, number of bolls, seed index and fiber length. The information generated through using various statistical tools to assess genetic diversity may be useful in developing a better cotton breeding program.
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