Two cycles of pedigree selection
for earliness index and
lint yield/plant were achieved in
two populations of Egyptian cotton
(G. barbadense L.) under late
planting condition. The genetic
materials were the F6, F7 and F8-
generations of (Giza 80 x Pima
56)/Giza 91 (pop. I) and Dandara/
Giza 80 (pop. II). The genotypic
coefficients of variation
(gcv) in the F6-genreation were
13.35 and 14.69% for earliness
index, and 23.70 and 27.60% for
lint yield/plant for pop. I and
pop. II; respectively. The remained
gcv after two cycles of
pedigree selection were 8.12 and
10.60% for earliness index, and
22.59 and 21.50% for lint
yield/plant for pop. I and pop. II;
respectively. The respective realized
heritability was 0.4550 and
0.2731 for earliness index, and
0.4128 and 0.3970 for lint
yield/plant. The average direct
observed gain was significant
and accounted for 5.59 and
3.80% for earliness index, and
6.68 and 5.45% (ns) for lint
yield/plant from the bulk sample
for pop. I and II; respectively.
Two promising superior families
were isolated from each population
in both of earliness index
and yield. For example, concerning
earliness index, the best superior
family No. 175 showed significant
(P<0.01) observed gains
from the better parent of 26.81,
49.99, 18.17, 9.87, 43.19 and
13.78% for seed cotton
yield/plant, lint yield/plant, lint
percentage, seed index, lint index
and earliness index; respectively.