Comparison of recombinational and induced polygenic variability for productivity related traits in desi cotton

The F1 seeds of four crosses viz, KS-16 X 9747, KS-16 X MB-3200, RAHS-14 X MDL-2582, and RDC-53 X 9747 were irradiated with 50 Gy gamma rays. The treated and untreated seeds of four F1S were advanced to F2M2 and F2 generation to assess the variability. The F2M2 progenies of four crosses had better mean performance and improved genetic variability than their corresponding F2 for number of bolls per plant, boll weight, halo length and seed cotton yield per plant. The present study has revealed that additional variability can be generated by irradiation of F1 seeds and the extent of variability depends on the character and parents in cross combination. (author)