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Phenotypic Stability of Homozygous Parents and Their F₁ Hybrids in Upland Cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L.¹

Experimental material consisted of nine parental lines of cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., and their F₁ progenies in a complete diallel crossing system. Eight parents were haploid derived lines and one was a highly inbred line. The individual entries were grown in five-plant plots, replicated five times, and grown in 2 years. Plant height, earliness, seed index, lint percentage, and yield were measured on an individual plant basis. The logarithmic transformation of the within-plot variance was computed for each character to measure phenotypic stability. There was no clear-cut distinction between the variability of the parents and hybrids, even though the parents were less variable for three of the five characters measured. The effect of the evolution of self-fertilization on the homeostatic mechanism is discussed. It is suggested that self-fertilized organisms may be in a transitional state, and they may not have developed a distinctive homeostatic mechanism such as that found in cross-fertilizing organisms.

Key Words: Homeostasis • Self-fertility

² Research Geneticist, Crops Research Division, ARS, USDA, College Station, Texas 77843.

Received for publication July 26, 1968.