Abstract
Fifty upland cotton genotypes were canvassed by Linkage Cluster (LCA) and Principal Component (PCA) analyses to
identify the major characters which account for the variation in yield contributing traits. At maturity, data on number of bolls
per plant, number of seed per boll, seed cotton yield, seed index, lint index, boll size, ginning out turn, fibre length, fibre
strength, fibre fineness, fibre uniformity and fibre elongation was recorded. The first four PCs with Eigen value >1
contributed 64.8 % variability among the cotton accessions. In PC1 and PC3 the genotypes possess good yield and fibre traits
whereas in PC2 the genotypes have desired yield components. Results of LCA agreed with that of PCA ordination on axis II
and I. Three groups of genotypes were revealed. Seed per boll and boll per plant showed highest heritability 99% as
compared to other traits. Genetic advance for seed cotton yield was recorded as highest 46.64 followed by seed per boll
16.37. The predicting genotypes from particular groups or clusters may be selected and exploited to improve yield potential
and fibre quality of the cotton crop.
