CORRELATION AND PATH COEFFICIENT ANALYSIS IN BREAD WHEAT

Abstract

Correlation and path-coefficient were computed between plant height, flag leaf area, peduncle length, number of tillers per plant, spike length, number of spikelets per spike, spike density, number of grains per spike, 1000-grain weight and grain yield per plant in five wheat varieties and their 20 hybrids. The phenotypic correlation between yield and plant height, tillers per plant, spike length, spikelets per spike and 1000-grain weight while positive and significant genotypic correlation was significant between these characters and grain yield per plant. Among these characters, spike length reflected the highest direct effect of (4.43) towards grain yield; while minimum direct effect was indicated by spikelets per spike (-4.22). Plant height, spike length, spike density, tillers per plant, peduncle length and grains per spike alongwith their indirect causal factors should be considered simultaneously as an effective selection criteria evolving high yielding cultivar because of their direct positive contribution to grain yield.