PATH ANALYSIS IN ASSESSMENT OF CAUSE AND EFFECT DEPENDENCIES OF YIELD STRUCTURE COMPONENTS IN MAIZE CULTIVARS DIFFERING IN GENETIC PROFILES

摘要

The field experiments were conducted in the years 2009-2011. The paper presents an analysis of variation and interdependencies of components of grain yield structure with grain yield for two maize hybrids differing in their genetic profiles in view of varied soil resources of N and Mg. The simple correlation analysis and the path coefficient analysis were used to evaluate dependencies between grain yield and components of yield structure. Values of grain yield structure components were more advantageous in the stay-green hybrid than in the conventional cultivar. In cv. ES Palazzo the greatest direct effect, corresponding to the standardized partial regression coefficients, on the volume of grain yield was found for 1000 kernel weight (0.85), while for the hybrid ES Paroli stay-green it was the number of productive ears per unit area (0.67). The analysis of variance results indicated that effects of years, cultivars and year x nitrogen application rates interaction were significant for all the observed traits. Under conditions of the field trials the application of Mg as a macroelement determining grain yield structure components was inefficient.