The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between seed yield and other important agronomic traits of early-maturing rapeseed as a rotation crop in a double-cropping rice area using Pearson's correlation coefficient as well as to estimate direct and indirect effects of specific yield component traits on seed yield via path analysis. Nineteen rapeseed genotypes were grown at ten environments in South China during 2008-2009 and 12 characters were evaluated. Analysis of variance showed that environment had a significant impact on all characters. For most characters the genotype by environment interaction was weak and not statistically significant. Simple correlation analysis indicated that the number of primary branches (PB), number of pods on the main raceme (PR), and number of seeds per pod made significant contributions to seed yield per plant (SYP), while 1 000-seed weight was negatively correlated with SYP (r=-0.485, P<0.05). Furthermore, number of pods per plant (PP), PB, and PR had the greatest direct effects on SYP. In addition, PP and PB were the best indicators to predict seed yield in stepwise regression analysis. Finally, yield component differences between early- and medium-maturity varieties were compared; this showed that to improve the seed yield of early varieties, more emphasis should be given to increase PP, PB, and PR, and reduce plant height and shortening of growth duration in breeding practice.
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