Selection Response for Improving the Performance of Egyptian Cotton under Late Planting and Soil Moisture Stress

Twenty-seven F4 progenies of individual selections and unselected bulks were evaluated in early and late summer plantings either irrigated normally or stressed. The objectives were to elucidate the efficiency direct and indirect individual selection in some Egyptian cotton segregating populations for reliable performance under harsh environmental conditions. The cotton plants of F4 produced higher lint yields under early sowing either normal or stress watering regimes (EN and ES) than those planted under late sowings or combined across all environments. Direct selection is better than indirect selection for improving lint yield and boll weight under normal watering regimes and for seed index and lint index under stress watering regimes either early or late sown. Maximum expected gain for F4 progenies was obtained for lint % trait from indirect selection to ES for the relative to correlated response under practiced under EN environment.