Genetic and Molecular Evaluation of Cotton

Cotton, the ‘White Gold’ and ‘King of fibre crops’ enjoys a pre-eminent status among all the cash crops in the country and elsewhere by providing principle raw material, cotton for textile industry. It is an important agricultural commodity providing remunerative income to millions of farmers both in developed and developing countries.India can take pride for being the only country growing a wide spectrum of quality cottons right from the shortest and coarsest, capable of spinning six counts to longest and finest use for producing 120 count yarns. Multivariate analysis provides important information on the extent of variation present in the germplasm. Selection of parents or lines on the basis of individual characters may not be as fruitful as the one based on a number of important components simultaneously, especially if we can aim to seek improvement in complex quantitative trait such as yield.Recent developments of molecular techniques and application of molecular markers have brought a new dimension into the traditional area of plant breeding. Molecular markers allow the easy and reliable identification of breeding lines, hybrids and cultivars.