Character Association and Path Analysis for Yield, Iron Content and Component Traits in Indigenous Rice Germplasm

Abstract

Rice is one of the major staple foods which contribute the energy source of nutrition. As variation in micronutrients is a major problem affecting the health of people, so selection for indigenous rice germplasm with higher micronutrient for iron and zinc is need of the hour. For selection of characters, character association and direct and indirect contribution of characters play an important role. The present investigation was conducted taking 94 germplasms using augmented design. Observations were recorded on 12 quantitative and 3 quality characters from five randomly selected plants in each genotype. The characters like days to 50 % flowering, days to maturity, plant height (cm), number of tiller per plant, panicle length (cm), number of grains per panicle, 1000-grain weight (g) yield per plant (g), harvest index (%), grain length (mm) grain width (mm), grain L/B ratio, amylose content, gelatinization temperature and iron content in brown rice (ppm) were taken and analyzed for character association and path analysis studies. The characters like 1000-grain weight, harvest index, grain length and grain breadth shown significant association with yield while there was negative association of harvest index with iron content of brown rice. Direct and indirect contributions also supported the character association in same manner. So, selection of 1000-grain weight, grain length and grain breadth are important characters to select plants for improvement of iron content in brown rice as well as yield.