FIBER YIELD AND FIBER LENGTH INDICATORS OF INTERSPECIFIC COTTON GENOTYPES

The article provides data on the hereditary transmission of traits of wild species G. thurberi Tod. x G. raimondii UIbr to the cultivars of G. hirsutum L and G. barbadense L. species. As a result of recombination of chromosomes, combinative variability arises on the genetic basis of wild and cultivated parental species. Hybrid of G. thurberi Tod. x G. raimondii UIbr. possesses the ability to improve technological properties and, in particular, the fineness and strength of the fiber in varieties and cultivated forms of cotton, by crossing them with hybrids in which one of the parent components is G. thurberi Tod. x G. raimondii UIbr. Experimentally established morphological diversity in the progeny of the synthetic tetraploid G. thurberi Tod. x G. raimondii UIbr. very similar to the polymorphism of the natural tetraploid G. hirsutum L. species suggests that tetraploid cotton species could have originated in the American centre of origin on the basis of a hybrid kind of G. thurberi Tod. x G. raimondii UIbr. From the data presented, it is evident that the coefficient of variability both in the fiber yield and in the fiber length is not very high, which indicates the homogeneity of the material. The high fiber yield (35-38 %%) is well combined with the fiber length (36-39 mm).