VARIABILITY FOR LEAF CHARACTERS IN RACES, PERENNIAL, WILD AND CULTIVATED SPECIES OF GOSSYPIUM L.

摘要

Variability for leaf characters viz., petiole length (cm); leaf area (mm~2), leaf width (mm), leaf length (mm) and leaf thickness (mm) were studied in cultivation and wild species belong to different genomes A (G. herbaceum and G. arboreum) and B (G. anomalum (B,); D (G. thurberi (D_1), G. armourianum (D_(2-1)); G. davidsoni (D_(3-d)) G. aridum (D_4) G. raimondii (D_5); G. trilobum (D_8). In addition races of cultivated G. arboreum viz., indicum, bengalensis, sinensis, perennial varieties kudaikotti and punaspatti; and G. hirsutum cotton (races viz. , Palmeri, Punctatum, and Morilli, perennial cottons Exotic-3, and Seridov; and G. barbadence perennial cotton "Kidney Cotton". Considerable amount of variability was noticed for leaf characters, which can be advantageously exploited for introgression of desirable leaf characters from wild / races / perennial cottons to cultivated cottons. These characters will be useful for developing promising germ plasm lines with marker characters by pre-breeding and handling of segregating material of cultivated x wild interspecific crosses of Gossypium.