Five cotton cultivars (NIAB-884, Bt-101, CRIS-310, MS-39 and UCD-581) were crossed in a complete diallel design to investigate the inheritance pattern of some metric plant traits. Genetic differences were found significant (b>0.01) for all traits under study. Adequacy test showed that all the characters were fully adequate for genetic analysis. Additive component of genotypic variance (D) was significant and predominant for Plant height, number of sympodial branches, boll weight, seed cotton yield, lint percentage, staple length, fibre strength and fibre fineness, while over dominance effects (H1 and H2) mainly contributed for no. bolls per plant. Partial dominance was involved for plant height, no. of sympodial branches, boll weight, and yield of seed cotton, lint percentage, staple length and fibre strength. The value of H2/4H1 demonstrated asymmetrical and unequal distribution of dominant genes in the parents for all the traits.

Studies were conducted for the estimation of variability in 20 tomato varieties/hybrids for fruit length, fruit width, pericarp thickness, fruit firmness at pink stage and fruit firmness at red stage. Analysis of variance revealed significant variation in tomato germplasm for all quality traits. Heritability estimates were higher for all the characters, whilst genetic advance was high only for fruit width and fruit length. Estimates of heritability and genetic advance for these traits suggest that direct selection may be more effective, and the plant material for other characters can be improved through hybridization and selective breeding.

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