04. Association and path analysis in advance Pakistani bread wheat genotypes
Abstract
An investigation was carried out on correlation and path analysis for seven characters on eight advance bread wheat cultivars which were grown in randomized complete block design with four replications during rabi, 2012-13 at Southern Wheat Research Station, Tandojam, Pakistan. All the growth and yield components including plant height, spike length, spikelets spike-1, grains spike-1, grain yield plant-1 and seed index (1000-grain weight) were significantly (P<0.01) different among the wheat genotypes except tillers plant-1. Among the genotypes, Abadgar resulted in maximum plant height (116.65 cm); while TD-1 surpassed all other tested genotypes for tillers plant-1 (13.550), spike length (13.488 cm), grain spike-1 (71.870), seed index (54.362 g) and grain yield plant-1 (18.900 g). Significant (P<0.05) and positive correlations among various traits were recorded. Tillers plant-1 showed positive and significant correlation with grains spike-1 (0.725*), seed index (0.742*) and grain yield plant-1 (0.814*) while the trait spike length established positive and significant association with spikelets spike-1 (0.844**), grains spike-1 (0.838*) seed index (0.804*) and grain yield plant-1 (0.881**). The character spikelets spike-1 also showed significant and positive associations with various traits including grain spike-1 (0.841*), seed index (0.783*) and grain yield plant-1 (0.804*). Similarly, grains spike-1 and seed index developed positive and significant (0.984**) correlations between them and also both traits made their significant and positive association with grain yield plant-1 with correlation values of 0.969** and 0.940**, respectively. Overall, an intensive selection for tillers plant-1, spike length, spikelets spike-1, seed index and grain yield plant-1 will ultimately improve seed yield in wheat. Since, these six traits are correlated among themselves; selection in one or more traits will result in the improvement of the other traits. Path coefficient analysis indicated that the maximum direct positive effect on grain yield plant-1 was contributed by grains spike-1 (0.8416) and seed index (0.5481). So, direct selection of genotypes for grain yield through grains spike-1 and seed index could be effective.
Keywords: Bread wheat, Correlation, Grain yield, Path analysis, Pakistan
