Studies of Genetic Correlation and Path Coefficient Analysis between Yield and Yield Attributing Traits in Biofortified Lines of Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.)
Santosh Kumar
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj, Ayodhya -224229, India.
Banshidhar
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj, Ayodhya -224229, India.
Beera Abhilash
Division of Vegetable Science, Faculty of Horticulture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Shalimar, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, 190025, India.
Priyanka Jaiswal *
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj, Ayodhya -224229, India.
Saroj Bala
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj, Ayodhya -224229, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Field experiments were conducted at the Student Instructional Farm of Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj, Ayodhya, during the Rabi seasons of 2023-24 and 2024-25 to examine associations among grain yield, yield-attributing traits, and grain zinc and iron concentrations in 50 biofortified wheat lines with three checks, using an augmented design. Correlation analysis showed that days to 50% flowering was positively associated with spike length but negatively associated with biological yield and grain yield. Days to maturity was positively associated with plant height and negatively associated with harvest index and grain yield. Plant height was positively related to peduncle length, grain weight per spike, and test weight, but negatively related to tiller traits. Spikelets per spike, grains per spike, biological yield, and harvest index showed significant positive associations with grain yield. Grain iron concentration was positively associated with grains per spike, whereas zinc concentration was positively associated with peduncle length. Phenotypic path coefficient analysis indicated that harvest index and biological yield had the largest direct positive effects on grain yield. The negative associations of days to 50% flowering and days to maturity with grain yield were mainly attributable to indirect effects through biological yield and harvest index, while the direct effects of most other traits were comparatively small. These results identify harvest index and biological yield as the principal direct contributors to grain yield within the evaluated biofortified wheat material, with other traits contributing mainly through indirect associations.
Keywords: Biofortified wheat, augmented design, correlation coefficient, path coefficient analysis, grain yield, harvest index, biological yield