Correlation and path coefficient studies of some yield related traits in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Abstract

Rice being the second most important staple food in Pakistan plays an important role in economic stability of Pakistan. An insight of genetic diversity and correlation among the various traits related to yield is helpful in this regard. Twenty genotypes of rice (Oryza sativa L.) were evaluated for genetic variability and correlation. The experiment was conducted in the research area of department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, following randomized complete block design with three replications. The data was recorded on yield and different yield components. The results pertaining to analysis of variance showed highly significant differences among all genotypes for all the yield trails. Flag leaf area, number of productive tillers per plant, number of spikelets per panicle, number of grains per panicle and 1000 grain weight had a highly positive significant genotypic correlation with grain yield per plant. Same results were obtained for the phenotypic correlation. The study of path analysis for yield related traits revealed that number of productive tillers per plant, number of spikelets per panicle, number of grains per panicle and days to maturity had positive direct effect on grain yield per plant. In view of the results obtained from this experiment, it may be concluded that the characters like number of productive tillers per plant, number of spikelets per panicle could be used as a direct selection criteria for higher grain yield. Genotypes like Sr1-57, Basmati-385, Srs-505, Ksk-133, Sr1-13 and DM-2-25-9- 2002 may be used to bring about improvement in rice grain yield by including these in rice breeding programs for development of commercial varieties. market and also for the high quality of the kernel. It provides 20% of the world's dietary energy supply, while wheat supplies 19% and maize 5 %. Rice is the predominant staple food for 17 countries in Asia and the Pacific, nine countries in Africa (Laxuman et al., 2011). In Pakistan rice is cultivated over an area of 2.88 million hectares with a production of 6.88 million tons annually with an average yield of 2.39 tons per hectare (Anonymous, 2009-2010). It accounts for 6.4% value added in agriculture and 1.4% in GDP (Anonymous, 09-10). Pakistan is the fifth biggest rice exporting country in the world and exports more than one million tons of rice annually, which is 10% of the world's rice trade. The need and importance of rice is increasing day by day due to the increase in the population explosion on earth. Therefore, it is the basic need of these days to boost up rice yield and quality through the development of biologically superior, stable and high yielding rice varieties to meet the increasing food demand.