Correlation and Path Analysis for Grain Yield and Yield Related Traits of Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Landraces from Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Knowledge of genetic and phenotypic association among economic traits helps plant breeders in designing efficient breeding strategies for development of high yielding barley cultivars. Accordingly, a study was conducted to investigate the interrelationship among yield and yield related characters and extent of their contribution to grain yield on barley landraces. Thirty six barley landraces were collected from three barley growing districts of Gamo Gofa Zone, Ethiopia. The landraces were sown in the first week of June, 2014 in Chencha experimental field in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Based on phenotypic level, grain yield was positively and highly significantly correlated with number of grain per spike, biomass per plant and harvest index. Significant and positive phenotypic correlation between grain yield and harvest index, indicated that genotypes that have higher harvest index able to use most of photosynthetic materials. Grain yield was positively correlated with grain filling period (0.026,, 0.029), maturity days (0.024, 0.026), harvest index (0.763, 0.912), peduncle length(0.045, 0.076), plant height(0.197, 0.211), number of grain per spike(0.705, 0.778), biomass per plant (0.679, 0.597) and thousand seed weight (0.480, 0.830) at both phenotypic and genotypic level, respectively. Path coefficient analysis based on grain yield as dependent variable revealed that days to heading, days to maturity, number of tillers per plant, peduncle length, plant height and biomass per plant showed positive direct effects on grain yield. Therefore, these characters could be considered as major components of selection in a breeding program for obtaining higher grain yield.