PERFORMANCE OF BT COTTON VARIETIES UNDER KHANEWAL CONDITIONS

Abstract

Since 2002, farmers in Pakistan have been growing cotton that contains the first generation of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). although, formally unapproved and unregulated, a large number of Bt cotton varieties have been cultivated now a days in Khanewal. in order to identify the superior genotype for this area, we studied the comparative growth and yield performance of ten cotton cultivars namely, Mnh-886, Bh-178, Fh-142, Vh-301, iuB-222, CiM-602, Mnh-456, Tarzen-1, Bh-180, Fh114 on clay loam soil. all the treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. at 160 days after sowing, numbers of bolls plant^-1, seed cotton weight boll^-1(g) and seed cotton yield (kg ha^-1) were recorded for each treatment by selecting five random plants per plot. The results revealed that all these parameters differed significantly (P < 0.05) among Bt cultivars. Fh-142 had the highest value for the no. of bolls plant^-1_, weight boll^-1 and seed cotton yield. a positive co-relation was found between no. of bolls plant^-1 and seed cotton yield, whereas no such relation could be established between seed cotton weight boll^-1 and overall seed cotton yield. it was concluded that Fh-142 performed best in all of the studied traits than other cultivars and may be recommended for cultivation in Khanewal agro-ecological conditions.