Vol. 9, Special Issue 10, Part N (2025)

The current research aimed to evaluate the genetic diversity among 30 upland cotton genotypes. This study took place at the Plant Breeding Farm (PBF) within the Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding at Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, during the Kharif season of 2023-2024. The experimental setup followed a randomized block design with three repetitions. Data collection focused on yield and its components, such as the number of days to first flowering, plant height, the count of monopodial and sympodial branches per plant, the number of bolls per plant, boll weight, seed index, lint index, and seed cotton yield per plant. The findings indicated that the phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) surpassed the genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for traits like the number of monopodial and sympodial branches per plant, bolls per plant, and seed cotton yield per plant. Heritability, along with genetic advance as a percentage of the mean, showed elevated values for all traits studied, except for days to first flowering, boll weight, seed index, and lint index. This suggests that additive gene effects significantly impacted the inheritance of these traits. These traits can be enhanced through straightforward pureline selection.