Analysis of Correlation and Path between Yield and Agronomic Characteristics of Maize Hybrids in Xichang Region

The report is based on analysis of correlation between yield per plant and twelve agronomic characteristics of 130 hybrids. The result showed that the most contribution to the yield is from ear weight(r= 0.98403),the following is row-grain number(r=0.70197),ear diameter(r=0.70007),100-grain weight(r= 0.65396),and ear length(r=0.52793);the correlation value showed highly significant differences at 1% level between ear weight and ear diameter,100-grain weight,row-grain number and ear length. The results of path analysis indicated that the relative importance of characters in turn is ear weight,ear length,kernel number of per row,ear axis diameter,row number,ear height,100 - kernel weight,ear diameter,and width of ear-leaf. Therefore, increasing ear length and kernel number of per row,enhancing ear height and width of ear-leaf are effective approach to get high - yield of maize hybrids. At the same time,the other traits should be considered.