Character Association of Yield and Yield Components of Various Varieties of Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Abstract

Yield and yield attributing parameters are the most widely targeted traits in rice improvement programmes. The relationship between yield and yield attributing traits are important for direct and indirect selection of traits which contribute to yield. Information on the extent of association between yield and yield components is important in the simultaneous improvement of correlated traits. This study was carried out to determine the direct and indirect contributions of yield components to yield of rice and the level of association. Path Coefficient Analysis was used to evaluate the character association of yield and yield components of twenty-five rice varieties at the Rivers State University Teaching and Research Farm, Port Harcourt, during the 2019 planting season under rainfed condition and complimented by irrigation in two different planting dates. The experiments were laid out in a randomized complete block design. Data were collected on yield and yield components. Leaf area, plant height, panicle length, panicle number, panicle weight, 100-grain weight and spikelet fertility correlated positively and significantly with grain yield per stand. The path coefficient analysis indicated that panicle number (0.265) and spikelet fertility (0.219) had the highest positive direct effect on grain yield per stand. Conversely, number of grains per panicle (-0.128), days to 50% flowering (-0.114), tiller number (-0.095) and panicle length (-0.056) exerted negative direct effect on grain yield per stand with 0.674 residual effects. Therefore, direct selection for leaf area, plant height, panicle number, panicle weight, 100 grain weight, and spikelet fertility will effectively improve yield in rice.

Keywords: Grain yield, Character Association, Oryza sativa, variation, yield components

DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/13-8-02

Publication date: April 30^th 2022