Evaluation of genetic behavior of some Egyption Cotton genotypes for tolerance to water stress conditions

Esmaeel Z F Abo Sen; Mohamed A A El-Dahan; Shimaa A Badawy; Youssef S Katta; Bandar S Aljuaid; Ahmed M El-Shehawi; Mohamed T El-Saadony; Amira M El-Tahan

doi:10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.11.001

Evaluation of genetic behavior of some Egyption Cotton genotypes for tolerance to water stress conditions

Saudi J Biol Sci. 2022 Mar;29(3):1611-1617. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.11.001. Epub 2021 Nov 11.

Authors

Esmaeel Z F Abo Sen¹, Mohamed A A El-Dahan², Shimaa A Badawy¹, Youssef S Katta¹, Bandar S Aljuaid³, Ahmed M El-Shehawi³, Mohamed T El-Saadony⁴, Amira M El-Tahan⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafr El-Sheikh University, Egypt.
² Cotton Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt.
³ Department of Biotechnology, College of Science, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, 44511 Zagazig, Egypt.
⁵ Plant Production Department, Arid Lands Cultivation Research Institute, the City of Scientific Research and Technological Applications, SRTA-City. Borg El Arab, Alexandria, Egypt.

Abstract

Water stress is a critical abiotic stress for plant reduction in arid and semiarid zones and, has been discovered to be detrimental to the development of seedlings as well as the growth and physiological characteristics of many crops such as cotton. The objectives of our study were to determine the combining ability and genetic components for five quantitative traits [(leaf area (LA), leaf dry weight (LDW), plant height (PH), fiber length (2.5 percent SL), and lint cotton yield/plant (LCY/P)] under water shortage stress, a half diallel cross between six cotton genotypes representing a wide range of cotton characteristics was evaluated in RCBD with four replications. The genotype mean squares were significant for all traits studied, demonstrating significant variation among genotypes for all characters under water shortage stress. LCY/P had the highest phenotypic and genotypic correlation co-efficient with PH, LDW, and LA shortage. The highest direct effect on lint cotton yield was exhibited by leaf area (3.905), and the highest indirect effects of all traits were through LA, with the exception of 2.5 percent SL, which was through LDW. The highest dissimilarity (Euclidean Distance) between parental genotypes was between G.87 and G.94, followed by G.87 and Menoufi. G.94 was also a well-adapted genotype, and the combinations G.87 x G.94 and G.87 x Menoufi may outperform their parents. The combining ability analysis revealed highly significant differences between parental GCA effects and F1 crosses SCA effects. The variation of GCA and SCA demonstrated the assurance of additive and non- additive gene action in the inheritance of all traits studied. In terms of general combining ability (GCA) effects, parental genotype G.94 demonstrated the highest significant and positive GCA effects for all traits studied, with the exception of 2.5 percent SL, where G.87 revealed the highest significant and positive GCA effects. The effects of specific combining ability (SCA) revealed that the cross (G.87 x2G.94) revealed stable, positive, and significant SCA for all of the studied traits.

Keywords: Combining ability; Cotton; Diallel analysis; Gene action; Path analysis; Water deficit.