Deterioration of seed before and after planting often limits the quantity and quality of emerged cotton seedlings. In previous work, we developed a method of inducing rapid deterioration of cottonseed using hot water as the stress medium. The objective of this study was to determine the inheritance of resistance to seed deterioration using this hot water stress method. From preliminary tests, eight parents were chosen that exhibited variation in both germ inability after hot water treatment and water imbibition rate. The parents were crossed in a diallel fashion including reciprocals. Self-pollinated bolls of parent and F₁ plants were harvested 1-2 days post-dehiscence to obtain seed having parental and F₁ seed coats. All seed were acid-delinted and stored in optimum conditions until testing. Weights of seed before and after imbibing 30C water for 1 hour were used to determine imbibition rate (TMBIB) on a wet weight basis. Germination percentages for seed treated for 30 minutes in 65C water (GERM30) and untreated seed (GERMO) were determined after 7 days on water agar at 18C. Significant variation among parents were found for each trait. GERM30 and IMBTB were significantly correlated (r = -0.92) but neither were correlated with GERMO. Combining ability analysis using Griffings's method 1, model 1 indicated significant general and specific combining abilities for each trait. Reciprocal effects were significant for GERMO and GERM30. Narrow sense heritability estimates, calculated by parent-progeny correlations of crosses and mid-parent values, for GERM0, GERM30, and IMBIB were 0, 0.80, and 0.80, respectively. Improvement in resistance to seed deterioration should be possible by selecting viable seed after hot water treatment in early generations then evaluate imbibition rate of progeny to avoid impermeable seed coats.