Analysis of Agronomic Characters of Cotton Varieties in Xinjiang

【Objective】 This project aims to select varieties suitable for mechanized harvesting through the study on the agronomic characters of the main cotton varieties in Xinjiang. 【Methods】 The variation, correlation, principal component and cluster analysis of 12 agronomic characters of 100 cotton varieties in Xinjiang were carried out. 【Results】 Analysis of variation found that among the 12 agronomic traits, there were 7 traits with variation greater than 10%, whose leaf branches were (64.0%), boll number (25.8%), length of the first fruit node of the upper fruit branch (20.2%), boll rate (17.1%), length of the first fruit node of the middle fruit branch (16.8%), boll number per plant (16.0%) and height of the first fruit node of the fruit branch (11.5%). Correlation analysis showed that there was a significant positive correlation between growth period and plant height, and a very significant negative correlation with the number of bolls per plant and the number of bolls. The plant height was positively correlated with the number of fruit branches, the height of the initial node of fruit branches and the number of bolls per plant. The included angle of fruit branch (middle included angle, the same as below) was positively correlated with the length of the first fruit node of the middle fruit branch, and negatively correlated with the number of bolls. There was a very significant positive correlation between the initial node of fruit branch and the height of initial node of fruit branch, and a very significant negative correlation with boll opening rate. There was a very significant positive correlation between the length of the first fruit node of the leaf branch and the upper fruit branch. Principal component analysis showed that the cumulative contribution rate of the five principal components reached 81.15%, which was mainly related to the growth period, plant height, fruit branch angle, fruit branch initial node height and fruit branch initial node. Cluster analysis showed that 100 cotton varieties were divided into 7 categories when the genetic distance was 44.0, and 11 varieties in the second group were preliminarily screened, which were more in line with the character requirements of mechanically harvested varieties. 【Conclusion】 Through the comprehensive analysis of some phenotypic characters of machine-picked cotton, this paper evaluates the varieties popularized and applied in production, and 11 cotton varieties more suitable for machine picking are preliminarily selected, which provides enlightenment and reference for the improvement of agronomic characters of machine-picked cotton.