Genetic Basis of Some Quantitative Traits in Upland Cotton (Gossypium Hirsutm L.) (Report‪)‬

Introduction Despite of substantial progress made in other sectors, agriculture, by part, still has the pivotal position in the economy of Pakistan (Ali & Khan 2007b). Amongst the crops, upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is very important. It sustains a lot of peoples in various fields such as textile mills, agriculture fields, ginning factories, small-to-large scale business and trade. Cotton accounts for 8.6% of the value added in agriculture and about 1.8 percent to GDP (Anonymous 2007). The crop was sown on the area of 3.075 million ha, 0.9 percent less than last year. The production of cotton is provisionally estimated at 13.0 million bales for 2006-07, lower by 0.1 percent over the last year's production of 13.019 million bales. Lower production was attributed primarily to the 11 percent decline in area sown in Sindh due to excessive rains and floods (Anonymous 2007). It means that area under cotton cultivation is shrinking day by day due to many factors like rains and floods, water logging and salinity and industrialization (Ali & Khan 2007a).