Studies on character association and path coefficient analysis in grain amaranth (Amaranthus spp. L.)

摘要

One hundred genotypes of three different species of grain amaranth (Amaranthus spp. L.) were evaluated in 10 x 10 simple lattice design with two replications during kharif 2006 at Main Agricultural Research Station, Hebbal, Bangalore to assess the character association and path coefficient analysis. Mean sum of squares revealed highly significant differences among genotypes for all the 13 characters studied. Seed yield per plant showed a highly significant positive correlation with plant height, panicle fresh weight, number of spikelets per panicle, dry weight of panicle and harvest index both at genotypic and phenotypic levels. In the present study generally the genotypic correlation coefficients were higher than their respective phenotypic correlation coefficients. Path coefficient analysis was carried out both at genotypic and phenotypic levels taking seed yield as a dependent character and the characters which were significantly correlated with seed yield were viz., plant height, fresh weight of panicle, number of spikelets per panicle, dry weight of panicle and harvest index as independent characters. In the present study, all the characters exhibited highly significant and positive correlation with seed yield. From the above discussion, it can be concluded that due emphasis should be given to the characters viz., fresh weight of panicle and harvest index while making selection.