Identifying stable Bt cotton genotypes with superior fibre quality parameters for irrigated situations

Twenty two Bt cotton hybrids were evaluated for seed cotton yield and fibre quality parameters over threeenvironments viz., Agricultural Research Station, Siruguppa (E-1), Main Agricultural Research Station, Raichur (E-2) and Agricultural Research Station, Bheemarayanagudi (E-3), during Kharif 2010-11. The seed cotton yieldranged from 1478 to 2203 kg/ha among the Bt cotton hybrids. Pooled data of seed cotton yield revealed that twohybrids viz., MRC 7347 BG II (2203 kg/ha) and ACH 177-2 BG II (2054 kg/ha) recorded numerically superior seedcotton yield over the check, MRC-7351 BG-II (2053 kg/ha). The data on 2.5 per cent span length ranged from 29.2mm to 33.6 mm, while the fibre strength of the hybrids ranged from 21.7 g/tex to 23.9 g/tex. Fibre fineness ormicronaire value ranged from 3.9 to 4.6 Bg/inch. None of the hybrids were found to be stable across all the testenvironments indicating the need to undertake extensive testing of Bt cotton hybrids for recommending regionspecific hybrids possessing high yielding potential coupled with desirable fibre quality parameters