Performance Stability Assessment in upland Cotton Strains throughout Cotton-growing Belt in Pakistan

Abstract

U pland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum. L) is mainly cultivated for its spinnable fibre worldwide. It is truly considered a cash crop and the backbone of the country's economy. It accounts for 0.8% accumulation in GDP and 4.2 per cent value addition in the agriculture sector (GoP, 2020). Pakistan is numbered as Abstract | Cotton is a real cash crop and contributes to the national economy by enhancing exports. The yield performance of cotton is fluctuating under erratic test conditions due to genotype into environment interaction. The present study was executed at 14sites throughout Pakistan according to a randomized complete block design replicated 03 times during Kharif (summer season) 2019.The experiment aimed to assess the performance stability of studied strains in terms of seed cotton yield against selected environments. Twenty-five upland cotton strains recently bred by different research stations including the check cultivar (CIM-602) were selected for this study. Additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) analysis procedure was followed for the data analysis. The analysis of variance revealed that strains, environments and genotype into environments interaction (GEI) results were significant at (p≤0.01). Further, the GEI sum of squares (SS) was comprised of (20.5%) out of total variability. Seven interaction Principal Component Axis (IPCA) were found significant at (p≤0.01). IPCA-1 and IPCA-2 were found enfolded with37.9% and 22.2% of GEI portion respectively. AMMI-1 was diagnosed as a predictive model which delineated all test sites into 4 mega environments. The strain (NIAB-1011) won seven environments and qualified as the overall winner of the trial by giving the highest 2604 Kg ha -1 seed cotton yield. Strain GH-U had yielded a maximum of 4070 Kg ha -1 inthe Khuzdar environment. Sahiwal was ranked the top environment with a yield of 3161 Kg ha -1 followed by Khuzdar (2845 Kg ha 1 ) respectively. The genotype selection index (GSI: A non-parametric approach to determine performance stability) distinguished NIAB-135, BH-224 and FH-Am17 being the most stable strains bearing the least GSI value and may be released for general cultivation to boost national cotton production.