Genetic Variability and Character Association for Grain Yield Components in Maize (Zea mays L.)

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out to assess the genetic variability parameters, correlation and path analysis in twenty-one maize genotypes for sixteen quantitative traits Kharif seasons at Field Experimentation Centre, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology and Sciences, Uttar Pradesh in Randomized Block Design replicated thrice. Analysis of variance for all sixteen quantitative characters revealed that treatment differences were highly significant under study at 1% level in Kharif season. The present investigation objective was oriented to calculate and estimate yield traits through analyzing the mean performance, variability, expected genetic advance, correlation coefficient and path analysis involving the yield attributing characters. Among 21 genotypes, BML-13 (109.67), MGW-376 (108.93) genotypes were found to be superior for grain yield per plant over the check (Shaktiman-5). GCV for all the characters were less than PCV, indicating the influence of environmental component on the expression of the character.  High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percent mean in the present genotypes was recorded for traits plant height, ear height, grain rows per cob, cob weight, biological yield per plant, 100 grain weight, grain yield per plant. Path coefficient and Correlation analysis revealed that ear height, cob length, cob girth, grain rows per cob, grains per row, number of cobs per plant, cob weight and biological yield per plant had positive correlation and direct effects with grain yield per plant. Therefore, it is concluded that effective selection must be attempted for these traits which would help in improvement of grain yield in maize genotypes.