Abstract

The present study was carried out on maize (Zea mays L.) to study the gene action, narrow sense heritability, interrelationships among traits and path coefficient analysis for grain yield and its components at Agricultural Research Station, Karimnagar, PJTSAU, India during rainy season, 2012. Results indicated that the magnitude of additive variance was consistently greater than that of dominance variance for days to 50% pollen shed, days to 50% silk emergence, plant height, kernel rows ear-1, 100 seed weight and grain yield plant-1. High narrow sense heritability estimate was detected for days to pollen shed and moderate narrow sense heritability estimates were found for days to silk emergence, plant height, ear height, ear girth, kernel rows ear-1, 100 seed weight and grain yield plant-1. This implies that the additive genetic variance was the major component of genetic variation in the inheritance of these traits and the effectiveness of selection for improving these traits. Positive and significant phenotypic and genotypic correlations were recorded for plant height and ear height with ear length, ear girth, 100 seed weight and grain yield plant-1. The path analysis revealed that, ear girth had the highest direct effect on grain yield followed by days to 50% silk emergence, while both the traits recorded high moderate indirect effects on grain yield via days to 50% pollen shed, no. of grains per plant, 100 seeds weight, plant height and ear height. Hence days to 50% silk emergence and number of ears per the selection for ear girth plant will be highly effective for improvement of grain yield.

Keywords: Maize, Narrow sense heritability, Correlation and path coefficient analysis.