Characterization of Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) Germplasm for Drought Tolerance using Seedling Traits and Molecular Markers

Drought tolerance is the major area of thrust nowadays, due to the water scarcity and climate change scenario, around the globe. Looking for the novel cotton germplasm tolerant to drought is an import ant breeding objective of the major breeding programs. On the basis of these grounds, 42 cotton varieties were evaluated for their genetic potential to perform under limited water conditions (60% field capacity). The germplasm was subjected to the seedling stage drought stress, to observe genetic variation within germplasm for various traits related with drought stress viz. shoot length (cm), root length (cm), excise leaf water loss (ELWL) and relative water contents (RWC). These traits were used as stress indicators and significant variation was observed for these estimates. Among the seven tolerant accessions, DPL-26 and 149F were identified as the highly tolerant due to their least SSI estimates for most of the characters studied. Likewise among the susceptible lines, FH-1000 and NF-801 were identified as highly susceptible. Our studies showed the presence of genetic variability for the trait of interest and it exhibits its potential for exploitation in the future breeding for drought tolerance.