Abstract

Hairiness/trichomes act as an important insect non-preference trait. The inheritance of this trait was studied in three cross combinations involving a common pilose parent with three sparse hairy parents which showed a theoretical monohybrid ratio of 1:2:1, showing incomplete dominance in F₂. The positive correlation of number of trichomes with lint percentage and micronaire suggested that the selection for pilose hairiness would be helpful in enhancing the lint percentage and fibre fineness. The number of trichomes had no effect on the expression of the traits like number of monopodial branches, number of sympodial branches, number of bolls, boll weight and seed cotton yield which proved no chance of undesirable linkage of these traits with number of trichomes.

Key words: Gossypium hirsutum L., trichomes, inheritance, fibre traits, agronomic traits.