Parametric Stability and Principal Components Analysis of Some Egyptian Cotton Cultivars under Different Environments

The present study was conducted to select cotton stable cultivars with high productivity across various environments. Nine Egyptian cotton cultivars were grown in a split-plot randomized complete block design with three replications consisted of six different environments (2 years × 3 sowing dates) to identify the high yield stability cultivars under these conditions. Pooled analysis of variance for; number of bolls/plant, seed cotton yield and lint yield revealed significant differences due to cultivars, environments and their interactions. Results revealed that the cultivars Dandara and Giza 90 were considered as superior cultivars under different environmental conditions due to their high number of bolls/plant, seed and lint yield traits across different environments when compared with grand mean for these traits beside acceptable stability parameters (bi near to one, Sdi non-significant, α stability value not significantly differed from zero and the λ statistic was not significantly differed from one). Therefore, it could be used in breeding programs for development of high yield stable genotypes across environments for future use. Also, principal component analysis (PCA) showed that Dandara and Giza 90 cultivars were located near all studied traits and environments (stable cultivars over different environments). According to our results the two cultivars (Dandara and Giza 90) can be recommended to be uses under a wide range of environmental conditions and use in breeding programs for development of high yield stable genotypes across environments for future use.