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The objective of the present studies was to examine the genetic potential in Gossypium hirsutum L. for inducing earliness in maturity, and also to study the genetic variation in seed cotton yield, its components, and fibre properties. In order to pursue the research work, the germplasm was assessed to study the genetic variability in various plant traits, related to earliness, and other traits. For this purpose 51 lines/varieties were grown in the field and data on various character measured. The results of the analysis of variance revealed highly significant genotypic differences for node for first fruiting branch, days taken to 1st boll opening, earliness index and seed cotton yield, suggesting the existence of variation in the germplasm. The worth of the lines/varieties were studied following metroglyph analysis technique which used total score index of varieties, which varied from 5 to 12. On the basis of total score index, four early maturing varieties namely FH-901, CIM 448, NIAB-999 and LRA-5166, and three late maturing genotypes i.e. CP-15/2, Pilose-3 and MNH-93 were selected as parents to develop plant material through hybridization following diallel crossing system.

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Dr Amir Shakeel is currently Assistant Professor at the Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. He earned his Ph.D in 2008 from University of Agriculture,Faisalabad, Pakistan and Post-Doc from Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, University of Georgia, USA in 2009-2010. He is a cotton breeder.

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