Canopy light interception, dry weight and leaf area of upland cotton lines

Abstract

The development of new cultivars of upland cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L. with the mutants okra leaf (L02), frego bract (fg) and red plant color (R1) may help to minimize the harvest lost caused by insects damages. The cotton breeding program conducted by the Universidade Federal do Ceará, Brazil developed eight experimental lines containing mutants for leaf shape, bract type and red plant body. The objectives of this study were to determine the canopy light interception, plant dry weight and leaf area of the lines described above. The experimental design utilized was a randomized complete blocks with nine treatments and four replications. Each experimental plots had four lines with 30 plants in each arranged in a 0,8 x 0,2 m spacement. The lines with combination normal leaf, frego bract and green plant body showed the greatest percentage of light interception (45,8%) at the 90 days after planting, while the line with okra leaf, frego bract and green plant body, showed the least percentage (22%). At 90 after planting, the check variety showed 87 grams/plant of dry weight, while the line with okra leaf, frego bract and green plant body only 48 grams/plant All lines containing okra leaf showed the lowest leaf area in all stages of evaluation.