Performance Assessment of F₃ Cotton Progenies for Morphological, Yield, and Fiber Quality Traits

Abstract

Developing high-yielding cotton cultivars with superior fiber quality depends on identifying promising breeding materials through phenotypic evaluation. This study evaluated agronomic, yield, and fiber quality traits in eight F₃ cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) progenies and their twelve parental genotypes under field conditions at the Nuclear Institute of Agriculture (NIA), Tandojam, Pakistan, during the Kharif 2025 season. The experiment followed a randomized complete block design with three replications. Data recorded for plant height, sympodial branches per plant, bolls per plant, boll weight, seed index, ginning outturn (GOT), staple length, micronaire value, and seed cotton yield per plant. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among genotypes for most of the studied traits, indicating substantial phenotypic variability. Among the parental lines, NIA-95, M-35, and M-23 exhibited superior performance for several yield-related traits. Among the F₃ progenies, NIA-Noori × M-35 produced the highest seed cotton yield (234.09 g plant⁻¹), followed by Sohni × NIAB-878 (230.64 g plant⁻¹) and Sadori × ZAD-1 (229.56 g plant⁻¹). These crosses also demonstrated superior performance for important agronomic and fiber quality traits, including plant height, boll number, boll weight, and ginning outturn. The results indicate that these F₃ populations have considerable breeding potential and may serve as valuable genetic resources for developing improved cotton cultivars with enhanced yield and fiber quality.