CHARACTER ASSOCIATION AND PATH COEFFICIENT ANALYSIS IN CHICKPEA (CICER ARIETINUM L.) UNDER LATE SOWN CONDITIONS
PRAMILA YADAV*, DINESH KUMAR TRIPATHI1, KHALID KAFEEL KHAN AND ASHOK KUMAR YADAV2
Department of Botany
Shibli National Post Graduate College,
Azamgarh (U. P.), India
*(e-mail : yadavpsc@gmail.com)
SUMMARY
A total of 45 genotypes of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) were tested for their yield performance. Among the 15 examined characters, positive and statistically highly significant correlations were found between days to maturity and number of seeds/pod; between the plant height and leaf length, leaflet length, width of leaflet, pod width and 100-seed weight; between leaf length and leaflet length, width of leaflet, pod length, pod width and 100- seed weight; between leaflet length and width of leaflet, pod length, pod width and 100-seed weight; between width of leaflet and pod length, pod width and 100-seed weight; between number of primary branches, number of secondary branches/plant and number of pods per plant; between number of secondary branches/plant and number of pods per plant; between pod length and pod width and 100-seed weight; as well as between pod width and 100-seed weight; and biological yield per plant with number of secondary branches/plant and number of primary branches/plant. Negative and highly significant relationships were observed between leaf length and number of primary branches, number of secondary branches and number of pods per plant; between width of leaflet and number of primary branches and number of secondary branches/plant; between number of seeds per pod and 100-seed weight; biological yield per plant with leaf length and leaflet length. 100-seed weight had the maximum direct effect on seed yield (p.c.= 0.398). It was found that the indirect effects on seed yield were more positive through 100-seed weight, number of leaflets/leaf and pod length, but negative and low through leaflet length and number of seeds per pod. The present study thus suggested that selection for high yield should be based on 100-seed weight and number of leaflets/leaf in chickpea.
Key words : Correlation, path coefficient, yield, chickpea, late sown