| Nine cultivars from five breeding companies and two exotic germplasms were genotyped using 88 SSR primers providing 102 polymorphic markers. Genetic similarities among lines ranged from 0.77 to 0.95. Agronomic and fiber data on three sets of these parents and their F2 hybrid populations were available from other researchers. Correlations between these data and genetic similarity values were calculated. Significant correlations were as follows: set two seed cotton yield 0.24; sets one, two, three, lint percentage -0.40, 0.61, and 0.19 respectively; set two boll size 0.14; set two lint yield 0.39; set two fiber micronaire, elongation, strength, 50% and 2.5% span length, -0.26, 0.27, -0.43, 0.22 and 0.53 respectively; and in set three 2.5% span length 0.27. Thus, molecular markers explained only a small amount of the variation among F2 populations. A potential role for using molecular markers in choosing parental lines exists; however more markers are needed. |
