Correlation and Path Coefficient Analysis for Yield and Its Related Traits in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Genotypes
Shubham Kumawat *
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar 263 145, Uttarakhand, India.
Hemant Kumar Jaiswal
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221 005, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Mayur Roshan Sahoo
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221 005, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Amit Kumar
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar 263 145, Uttarakhand, India.
Babita Bhatt
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar 263 145, Uttarakhand, India.
Tripti Tripathi
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar 263 145, Uttarakhand, India.
Soyal Kumar
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture & Technology, Meerut 250 110, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Lavi Dabas
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture & Technology, Meerut 250 110, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Kuldeep Goswami
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur 208 002, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Anupriya Rana
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Teerthanker Mahaveer University, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh 244001, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This study evaluated associations between single plant yield and eight agro-morphological traits in 22 wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes. The field experiment was conducted during the rabi season of 2018–19 at the Agricultural Research Farm, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, using a randomised block design with three replications. Data were recorded for days to heading, days to maturity, plant height, spike length, flag leaf length, number of tillers per plant, number of grains per spike, test weight and single plant yield. Genotypic and phenotypic correlation coefficients and path coefficients were estimated to assess trait associations and their direct and indirect effects on yield. Single plant yield was positively correlated with the number of grains per spike (genotypic r = 0.701; phenotypic r = 0.598), test weight (0.515; 0.469) and number of tillers per plant (0.466; 0.442). The corresponding phenotypic direct effects of these traits were 0.588, 0.407 and 0.612, while their genotypic direct effects were 0.620, 0.401 and 0.745, respectively. Plant height showed negative direct effects, partially counterbalanced by positive indirect effects through tiller number. The eight traits accounted for 83.1% of the phenotypic variation in single plant yield, with a residual effect of 0.411. These results indicate that the number of grains per spike, tillers per plant and test weight may be useful selection criteria within the evaluated germplasm.
Keywords: Wheat, correlation, path coefficient, direct effect, yield components, selection criteria