Bana Venkata Ravi Prakash Reddy, Kalapati Mohan Vishnuvardhan, U. Nikhil Sagar, D. Lakshmi Kalyani, M. Siva Ramakrishna, K. Amarnath and N.C. Venkateswarlu
Abstract
Present investigation was carried out with 34 upland cotton genotypes to assess the genetic divergence for seven yields and yield attributes through principal component analysis to identify the factors contributing to yield variability. The PCA showed that the first two principal components explained 59.89% of the total variation. PC1 components showed positive relationship with ginning percentage whereas PC2 showed positive relationship with plant height, bolls per plant and seed cotton yield. Hence, these characters will be given priority in future for upland cotton breeding programme. Cluster analysis using Wardâs method was performed with seven quantitative traits displayed that four clusters were formed in which largest contribution was shared by cluster I with a maximum of 15 genotypes followed by cluster II consists of 10 genotypes. Based on PCA scores and cluster mean values, the genotypes NH 702, NDLH 2051-3, NH 703, AKH 2013-2 and CPD 1951 were considered to be desirable for utilization in upland cotton improvement.