Characterisation of upland cotton grown in Zimbabwe using agronomical and morphological markers for Verticillium wilt tolerance

Figures & data

Table 1. Morphological and agronomical characteristics of cotton

Characteristics	Description
Boll shape	Shape in longitudinal length
Boll prominence	Prominence of tip
Boll size	Size of circumference of boll
Number of bolls per plant	Number of bolls counted at harvest
Leaf colour	Intensity of green colour
Plant shape^a	Shape of plant at boll splitting stage
Plant height	Height above ground measured in cm at harvest
Number of fruiting branches^a	Number of boll bearing branches on the main stem at harvest
Number of vegetative branches^a	Number of vegetative branches at harvest
Harvest index^a	Proportion of dry matter partitioned to yield (%)
Gin outturn	Content of lint (%)
Number of seeds per boll^a	Number of mature seeds per boll at harvest
Seed weight per boll	Content of seed (g)
Seed cotton yield	Total weight of seed cotton (kg)

Adapted from IBPGR cotton descriptors

^aAdapted from C.R.I descriptors

Table 2. Means of agronomical parameters of cotton under Verticillium wilt pressure

Genotype	Number of seeds per boll	Seed weight per boll	Number of fruiting branches	Number of vegetative branches	Harvest index (%)
CRI-MS-1	24.67 c	1.91	14.56	2.56	43.91abcd
CRI-MS-2	19.00ab	1.64	16.22	2.00	35.98a
SZ9314	17.33ab	1.78	15.11	2.11	40.81abcd
BC853	20.33abc	1.93	15.44	2.22	43.35abcd
CIM1	20.67abc	1.88	15.56	1.78	43.08abcd
CRI-MS-1 x CRI-MS-2	17.00a	1.74	14.56	2.00	38.09abc
CRI-MS-1 x SZ9314	22.00bc	2.19	13.89	2.44	45.63cde
CRI-MS-1 x BC853	17.67ab	1.71	15.00	2.00	48.88de
CRI-MS-1 x CIM1	18.67ab	1.90	14.00	2.00	38.33abc
CRI-MS-2 x SZ9314	19.33ab	1.79	15.67	2.11	44.69bcde
CRI-MS-2 x BC853	19.00ab	1.84	14.11	2.11	37.00ab
CRI-MS-2 x CIM1	21.00abc	1.96	14.22	2.22	49.29de
SZ9314 x BC853	22.00bc	1.99	14.78	2.00	52.90e
SZ9314 x CIM1	19.00ab	1.98	13.67	2.33	47.71de
BC853 x CIM1	18.67ab	2.00	14.22	2.00	44.36abcd
Grand Mean	19.76	1.88	14.73	2.13	43.60
CV%	11.8	9.8	8.5	10.1*	10.1
P-value	0.028	0.121	0.414	0.772*	0.002

Means in the same column followed by the same letter are not significantly different after separation by Duncan Multiple range Test (P < 0.05) *Data transformed using square root transformation

Table 3. Morphological traits for different genotypes

GENOTYPE	Plant height	Plant shape	Boll size	Boll shape	Boll prominence	Leaf colour
CRI-MS-1	Medium	Open	Small	Conical	Medium	Medium
CRI-MS-2	Tall	Open	Small	Conical	Medium	Medium
SZ9314	Medium	Open	Medium	Conical	Medium	Light
BC853	Tall	Closed	Medium	Rounded	Medium	Medium
CIM1	Medium	Closed	Small	Rounded	Medium	Medium
CRI-MS-1 x CRI-MS-2	Medium	Open	Medium	Conical	Medium	Light
CRI-MS-1 x SZ9314	Medium	Open	Medium	Conical	Medium	Dark
CRI-MS-1 x BC853	Medium	Closed	Small	Conical	Medium	Medium
CRI-MS-1 x CIM1	Medium	Closed	Medium	Conical	Strong	Medium
CRI-MS-2 x SZ9314	Medium	Open	Small	Conical	Medium	Medium
CRI-MS-2 x BC853	Medium	Open	Small	Conical	Medium	Medium
CRI-MS-2 x CIM1	Medium	Open	Medium	Rounded	Medium	Medium
SZ9314 x BC853	Medium	Closed	Medium	Rounded	Medium	Medium
SZ9314 x CIM1	Medium	Closed	Medium	Rounded	Medium	Medium
BC853 x CIM1	Medium	Closed	Medium	Rounded	Medium	Dark

Figure 1. Dendrogram based on euclidean distance and hierarchical clustering method for morphological data.