Morphological study of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) varieties against drought tolerance under greenhouse conditions

Abstract

Cotton is a vital fiber and oilseed crop badly affected by soil moisture deficit stress. Screening of cotton germplasm is a prerequisite to classify the cotton varieties as a drought sensitive and tolerant. With the aim to separate the distinct genotypes, ten cotton genotypes (FH-142, FH-118, MNH-886, BH-178, VH-259, SLH-317, FH-113, IUB-13, BS-52and NIAB-878) were grown under normal moisture and moisture stress environments. One group of seedling was watered at regular intervals (control) and other group was subjected to three consecutive drought cycles. The assessment was done through different morphological parameters (root length, shoot length, root fresh weight, shoot fresh weight, root dry weight, shoot dry weight and lateral root numbers).The leaf chlorophyll contents were also evaluated. The experimental design was Complete Randomized Design (CRD) in factorial way with three replicates. The data obtained was investigated statistically at 5% probability and Least Significant Difference (LSD) test was used to isolate the significant means (treatment). The results indicated that water stress adversely reduced the values of the above stated parameters excluding root length of some varieties. It is concluded that some genotypes of cotton such as FH-113, IUB-13, BS-52 and NIAB-878 indicated best response against water-deficit environment.