Morpho-physiological and molecular characterization of drought tolerance traits in genotypes under drought stress.

Drought stress is one of the major abiotic stresses affecting lint yield and fibre quality in cotton. With increase in population, degrading natural resources and frequent drought occurrences, development of high yielding, drought tolerant cotton cultivars is critical for sustainable cotton production across countries. Six genotypes identified for drought tolerance, wider adaptability and better fibre quality traits were characterized for various morpho-physiological and biochemical characters and their molecular basis was investigated under drought stress.