Character association and path coefficient analysis for grain yield of parents and hybrids in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

An experiment was conducted to study the inter-relationships, direct and indirect effects of various yield attributing characters towards grain yield per plant, at Rice Research Centre, Rajendranagar. Grain yield per plant had significant positive correlation with productivity per day (0.97), panicle weight (0.71), number of filled grains per panicle (0.57), panicle length (0.46), number of productive tillers per plant (0.34), days to 50 per cent flowering (0.23) and plant height (0.16).Path analysis revealed that productivity/ day (0.91) was the major contributor for grain yield followed by, days to 50 per cent flowering (0.19), grain length (0.05), number of productive tillers per plant (0.04), panicle weight (0.04) and number of filled grains per panicle (0.04). It can be concluded from the study that, the above characters can be used as the selection criteria in any rice yield improvement breeding programmes.