BREEDING COTTON GENOTYPES FOR HIGH DENSITY PLANTING SYSTEM – A NECESSITY IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT

MURTHY. K.G.K, PRADEEP. T and

BREEDING COTTON GENOTYPES FOR HIGH DENSITY PLANTING SYSTEM – A NECESSITY IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT

2019

MURTHY. K.G.K, PRADEEP. T and

High Density Planting System (HDPS) in cotton is one of the alternate production system for enhancing productivity and is being followed in the major cotton growing countries viz., USA, Australia, China, Brazil and Uzbekistan by using compact plant varieties at a plant densities varying from 1.0 lakh to 2.5 lakh plants / ha. On the contrary India farmers are using robust hybrids due to which the plant population seldom exceeds 55,000 plants / ha which may be one of the reasons for low productivity i.e., around 500 kg / ha even after the introduction of Bt cotton hybrids. Cotton farmers in India are compelled to adopt HDPS even with Bt cotton hybrids involving high seed rate and cost. However, this practice is proved to be non remunerative as the architecture of the hybrid varieties does not allow any agronomic interventions. Therefore, to improve the productivity levels, development of compact and semi compact plant types with less number of monopodia, more number of short sympodia, medium boll weight (3 gr), 8-14 bolls per plant, earliness and synchronous maturity along with good physiological attributes need to be prioritized. Although efforts are being made in India to develop short compact plant types that are amenable for HDPS, not much progress has been observed so far and hence efforts need to be continued to develop suitable plant types along with good fibre quality to harness better profits from rainfed cotton grown in marginal shallow soils. This review focuses on various studies carried out on the development of compact plant genotypes amenable for HDPS by exploiting heterosis and combining ability along with identification of stable compact plant types.

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