EVALUATION OF SOME EGYPTIAN COTTON GENOTYPES UNDER DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS

Comparative studies for thirty-nine genotypes descending from eighteen crosses and three check varieties Giza90, Giza83 and Giza80 were included in Trial A at Seds Agricultural experiment station in 2002 season, whereas the advanced genotypes (21 genotypes) descending from 13 crosses and the three check varieties were grown in Trial B at six different locations in Middle and Upper Egypt in the same season. The results obtained from Trial A showed that only two crosses exceeded the check varieties Giza90, Giza83 and Giza80 in both yield and its con­tributing variables. These crosses were [(Giza83 x Giza80) x Giza89] and (Giza85 x Giza83). While three crosses were promising as regard to their performance for yield and its contributing variables in Trial B. These crosses were [(Giza83 x Giza80) x Giza89], [(Giza83 x Giza80) x Giza75] and the cross [Giza83 x (Giza75 x 5844)]. High heritability esti­mates in the broad sense were recorded for most traits in trial A indicat­ing that phenotypic selection for these traits could be highly effective. The relatively low and moderate heritability values estimated in broad sense for boll weight, seed cotton yield and lint cotton yield in trail B were verified by the presence of significant, genotypes x locations inter­action and suggested that such material should be evaluated for a num­ber of years at different locations. Generally, it can be concluded from the results in Trials A and B that the cross [(Giza83 x Giza80) x Giza89] has shown to be promising cross due to its performance for yield compo­nents and fiber quality than other crosses.