Character Association and Path Coefficient Analysis of Yield and Quality Traits in Early and Mid-late Sugarcane (Saccharum spp. Complex)
Hitesh
*
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004, Haryana, India and ICAR-Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal 132001, Haryana, India.
Sudhir Sharma
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004, Haryana, India.
Rakesh Kumar
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004, Haryana, India.
Vijeta Gupta
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004, Haryana, India.
Deepika Bansal
Department of Horticulture, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar - 125004, Haryana, India.
Lovneesh Choudhary
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004, Haryana, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The genetic improvement of sugarcane (Saccharum spp. complex) for cane and sugar yield relies heavily on understanding the intricate associations among yield-attributing traits and partitioning their causal direct and indirect effects. This study evaluated 30 diverse sugarcane genotypes (27 advanced generation clones and 3 commercial standards) using a randomised block design with three replications to estimate phenotypic and genotypic correlations, alongside path coefficients, for seventeen morphological and biochemical quality traits. Correlation studies revealed that cane yield had a significant and positive association with CCS (t/ha) followed by single cane weight, stalk length, number of millable canes at harvest and Brix % at 8th month. Path analysis revealed that the characters, viz., Pol % at 8th month, CCS % at 10th month, CCS (t/ha), CCS % at 8th month, Brix % at 10th month, single cane weight, number of millable canes at harvest, number of tillers at 120 DAP and stalk length recorded positive direct effects on the dependent variable, i.e. cane yield, while the other traits also showed indirect positive effects on cane yield through these characters, indicating that these characters are major contributing traits to cane yield in sugarcane. Sugarcane clones viz., 15-1805, 16-266 and 16-123 were significantly or numerically superior to the best check Co-0238 for both cane yield and quality attributes. These clones require further testing in multi-locational trials to sustain sugarcane productivity.
Keywords: Sugarcane, character association, path coefficient analysis, cane yield, early maturity