CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The primary natural fibre crop in the world is cotton. It plays a crucial role in the
world economy. It has been regarded as a highly valued agricultural crop for more than
800 years and offers lint as a raw ingredient to the textile industry. Cotton is also called as
“white gold”. According to the ICAC Journal "Cotton This Month" –1st June 2023,
worldwide cotton output for the current season is 24.51 million tonnes (1481 lakh bales)
which is 2.8% lesser than the last year, while global cotton consumption is predicted to be
23.79 million tonnes (1399 lakh bales), which is 8% lesser than the last year. India
occupies first place in the world in cotton acreage. Almost 67% of India's cotton is grown
in rainfed land, while 33% is farmed on irrigated land. India ranks 39th in productivity
with a yield of 447 kg/ha. For cotton season, 2022–2023 world scenarios, China tops the
list for cotton productivity with 1993 kgs/ha, followed by Brazil. But India ranks second
for the production of the world cotton with a yield of 5.84 million metric tonnes.

In India all the four cultivated cotton species viz., G. arboreum and G.herbaceum
(Asian cotton), G. barbadense (Egyptian cotton), and G. hirsutum (American Upland
cotton) are cultivated. The existing Bt cotton hybrids are G. hirsutum-based, which
account for 94% of the hybrid cotton production in India.

The majority of the cotton produced in India is grown in ten major states, which
are divided into three distinct agro-ecological zones as follows:-

i. Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan are in the Northern Zone.

ii. Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh are in the Central Zone.
iii. Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu make up the Southern
Zone.

With a projected 362.18 lakh bales (6.16 million metric tons) of cotton production
during the cotton season 2021–2022, India is in first place globally, accounting for 23% of
the world's total cotton production of 1555 lakh bales (26.44 million metric tons).
 With an expected consumption of 338 lakh bales (5.75 million metric tons), or
22% of the estimated global cotton consumption of 1507 lakh bales (25.63 million metric
tons), India is also the second-largest cotton consumer in the world. (Indiastat, 2021)

Cotton is an often cross pollinated crop belongs to Malvacaea family of the genus
Gossypium, includes about 50 species. Among these, only 4 species are commercially
cultivated worldwide. They are classified into old world or diploid cotton and new world
or tetraploid cotton. The most commonly cultivated allotetraploid species are Gossypium
hirsutum and Gossypium barbadense i.e., new world cotton introduced to India during 17th
century and 18th centuries, contained A genome from the old-world diploid cotton and D
genome from a taxon of the American diploid cotton. After polyploidization, Gossypium
hirsutum evolved to produce a higher fibre yield and survive better in harsh environment
than other species and Gossypium barbadense evolved to produce superior quality fibre
traits like Upper Half Mean Length (mm), bundle strength, fibre fineness (µg/inch),
uniformity ratio (%) and elongation percentage.

Heterosis has been exploited extensively to improve the yield. Several factors like
geographical and genetic diversity, agronomic performance, adaptability and genetic base
of parental lines are reported to play an important role in the manifestation of heterosis in
cotton. Heterosis has been exploited in several combination for economical use in
G. hirsutum x G. hirsutum, G. hirsutum x G. barbadense, G. arboreum x G. arboreum and
G. herbaceum x G. arboreum.

The pollen sterility that is caused by nuclear gene is termed as genetic male
sterility. Hybrid seed production has been achieved through genetic male sterility. In this
study, the heterosis is exploited in GMS based H x B combination. To exploit heterosis,
knowledge on choosing appropriate parents of good genetic potential is essential. To select
the best parents combining ability is analysed in line x tester design.

The ultimate aim for the GMS based interspecific crosses between the GMS
sources of Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium barbadense is to satisfy the need for high
yielding quality fibre in the rapid moving modern world industries. The seed cotton yield
and fibre quality are quantitative traits in nature.

In plant breeding, markers that are related to variation in shape, size, colour and
surface of various plant parts are called morphological markers. Such markers refer to
available gene loci that have obvious impact on morphology of plant. The F1 hybrids are
to be confirmed by morphological markers viz., okra, super okra leaf, leaf lobes, petal
spot, blotch, plant pigmentation, coloured anther filament, hairiness, nectariless, glandless,
etc.,

By understanding the gene effects and magnitude of heterosis and the necessity of
quality fibre with high yield many cotton breeders contributed for developing the
interspecific tetraploid cotton hybrids. In order to reduce the risk of labourous work during
breeding programme, they converted the genotypes into GMS background. The genotypes
of tetraploid cotton converted into GMS background are LRA 5166, SRT1, DGMS 1,
HGMS 2, GAK 32A, SHGMS-9, DGMS2 etc., Among others Gregg(MS 399) line
belongs to G.hirsutum from USA and this line is a basic source of GMS which is having
ms5ms6 gene for male sterility. In this context, 1978 Suguna GMS based H x H type of
cotton hybrid was released, and this hybrid contributes for high yield. Several efforts made
for developing H x B type of hybrid to obtain the good quality fibre with high yield. The
successful released non GMS based HB hybrids are Varalaxmi, DCH 32, TCHB 213,
shruthi etc.,

The present study was aimed at investigating the current threats for the cotton in
conventional breeding programme by crossing GMS based G. hirsutum lines with
G. barbadense. This study is undertaken with following objectives:-

i. To develop and evaluate the per se performance of interspecific hybrid Gossypium

hirsutum x Gossypium barbadense along with their parents

ii. To identify the suitable parents for good general combining ability and hybrids for
specific combining ability

iii. To estimate and analyse the heterosis in Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium
barbadense.L hybrids for seed cotton yield and fibre quality traits using line x
tester design

iv. To assess the association between yield and fibre quality components using
correlation and path analysis.

v. To estimate the genetic component, gene effects and heritability for quantitative
traits in cotton.