Correlation and Path Coefficient Analyses for Grain Yield and its Contributing Traits in Quality Protein Maize (Zea mays L.)

Author: Harshit Tripathi, R.K. Yadav, Lokendra Singh, H.C. Singh, Shweta, Pawan Kumar Saini, Swapnil Dwivedi and Pratyksh Pandey

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Abstract

The study on quality protein maize for sixteen different characters viz., days to tasseling, days to silking, days to maturity, plant height (cm), cob length (cm), cob diameter (cm), number of grain rows per cob, number of grains per row, cob yield per plant (g), grain yield per plant (g), shelling %, 100 kernel weight (g), protein content (%), lysine content (%), tryptophan content (%), seed vigour index was conducted by making crosses among ten diverse inbred lines in half diallel fashion grown in Randomized Block Design in three replication during Rabi 2020-21 at Student’s Instructional Farm, C. S. Azad University of Agriculture and Technology- 208002, Kanpur, U.P. to assess the correlation and path coefficients. At genotypic and phenotypic level grain yield per plant exhibited significant positive correlation with plant height, cob length, cob diameter, number of grain rows per cob, number of grains per row, cob yield per plant, shelling percent, 100 kernel weight and tryptophan content while negatively significant correlation with days to tasseling, days to silking and lysine content in F1 generation while In F2 ¬ generation, correlation coefficients at genotypic level higher than the corresponding phenotypic correlation coefficient for all the characters. Seven characters viz., plant height, cob diameter, number of grain rows per cob, number of grains per row, cob yield per plant, protein content and tryptophan content showed positive and significant correlation with grain yield per plant. Lysine content showed negatively significant correlation with grain yield per plant while remaining characters showed non-significant values of correlation. At genotypic level cob yield per plant (0.7170) followed by shelling % (0.6912), days to tasseling (0.2839), lysine content (0.0567), seed vigor index (0.0368), tryptophan content (0.0280) and cob length (0.0082) had highest positive direct effect on grain yield per plant whereas at phenotypic level cob yield per plant (0.7796) followed by shelling % (0.4604), number of grains per row (0.0401), cob length (0.0400), days to tasseling (0.0400), number of grain rows per cob (0.0377), tryptophan content (0.0261), 100 kernel weight (0.0219) and lysine content (0.0064) had highest positive direct effect on grain yield per plant. Hence these characters may be considered for selection and improvement of grain yield in quality protein maize.

Keywords

QPM, correlation, path coefficient, genotype and phenotype

Conclusion

In this study characters viz., plant height, cob length, cob diameter, number of grain rows per cob, number of grains per row and cob yield per plant were found to be the most crucial characters in achieving high grain yield in quality protein maize as they showed significant positive correlation at genotypic and phenotypic correlation along with high positive direct effects at both genotypic and phenotypic level on grain yield per plant in both the generations. Therefore, we need to consider using these traits as the selection criterion to improve grain yield in QPM.

References

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How to cite this article

Harshit Tripathi, R.K. Yadav, Lokendra Singh, H.C. Singh, Shweta, Pawan Kumar Saini, Swapnil Dwivedi and Pratyksh Pandey (2023). Correlation and path coefficient analyses for grain yield and its contributing traits in Quality Protein Maize (Zea mays L.). Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(10): 47-54.