Character Association Study and Path Analysis for Fiber Yield and its Attributes in Improved Ethiopian Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) Varieties

Abstract

This research was designed to study the association of various agronomic and fiber quality related traits and the relative importance of fiber yield attributes. The experimental design used was Randomized Complete Block Design of three replications. The result showed a positive and significant association among four agronomic traits (fiber yield, ginning percentage, seed cotton yield and boll number per plant) and micronaire. Similarly, a highly significant association among fiber quality traits was observed in a desirable direction. However, the genotypic correlation (r_g) and phenotypic correlation (r_p) analysis indicated a non-significant and low association for most agronomic and fiber quality traits. Fiber yield exhibited positive and highly significant genotypic and phenotypic correlation with ginning percentage (r_g = 0.874 and r_p = 0.807) and seed cotton yield (r_g = 0.954 and r_p = 0.948). The path coefficient analysis revealed that ginning percentage and seed cotton yield had a high and positive direct effect on fiber yield. Furthermore, about 65.15% of fiber yield was contributed by ginning percentage and seed cotton yield. In conclusion, this study revealed that simultaneous selection for ginning percentage and seed cotton yield with balanced fiber quality traits probably improves fiber yield.