Abstract
Twenty-two local and introduced cotton cultivars were evaluated in the field at Samaru, during three growing seasons (1987-1989) for earliness, development, yield, and disease (bacterial blight) traits. In 1987 and 1988, eight cultivars were used of which four, one, and three were of local Nigerian, exotic Chadian, and American origin, respectively. During 1989, four Camerounian and 11 American cultivars were evaluated together with six Nigerian cultivars. Based on several morphological characteristics, for example, the number of days to first flower appearance and boll opening, height to and number of nodes to first fruiting branch, and plant height, seven multi-adversity resistance (MAR) cotton cultivars from the U.S.A. were consistently early maturing and more determinate than the Nigerian, Chadian, and Camerounian cultivars. The MAR cultivars also exhibited higher levels of resistance to bacterial blight, and their seed-cotton yield and other yield attributes were better than the other cultivars.
