Character association and path analysis in pearlmillet
-
Author:M. VETRIVENTHAN AND A. NIRMALAKUMARI
p-ISSN:0024-9602, e-ISSN:2582-5321, Vol:94, Issue:jan-jun
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29321/MAJ.10.100644
Abstract
Pearl millet is the fifth most important
cereal crop, and the most important millet
with more than 55 percent of global millet
production, grown in 40 countries, predominantly
in Africa and Asia, as a staple food grain
and source of feed, fodder, fuel and construction
material in the hottest, driest, semi-arid and
arid regions where rainfed agriculture is
practiced. India is the largest producer of this
crop, both in terms of area (9.1 m ha) and
production (7.3 m t), with an average productivity
of 780 kg/ha. Nearly 50 per cent of the millet
area is under hybrid cultivars. Understanding
of the interaction of the traits among themselves
and with the environment is of great use in
plant breeding. Correlation studies provide
information on the nature and extent of
association between any two metric traits and
it would be possible to bring out genetic
upgradation in one trait will be efficient in
selection of the other trait of a pair also.
However, some earlier reports on high phenotypic
and genotypic coefficients of variation for grain
yield/plant is available (Abraham et al., 1989;
Harer and Karad, 1998; Kulkarni et al., 2000).
Correlation between line per se and hybrid
performance of CMS lines showed positive
and high correlation coefficient values for days
to 50 per cent flowering, spike length, spike
girth, grain density and 1000 grain weight
were reported by Madhusudhana and Govila
(2001). Grain yield was positively and
significantly correlated with tillers per plant
and biological yield per plant which was
reported by Manoj Kumar et al. (2002). Grain
yield per plant showed significant positive
correlation with all its component traits viz.,
days to 50 per cent flowering, days to
physiological maturity, number of tillers per
plant, number of productive tillers per plant,
plant height, ear length, ear girth, 1000 grain
weight and dry fodder weight per plant at
both genotypic and phenotypic levels which
was reported by Salunke et al. (2006). The
present study was planned to understand the
association of various characters and their cause
with yield and its components in pearl millet
involving different sources of male sterile lines
and their hybrids
Key words : Pearl millet, Yield