Character Association And Path Analysis in Inter-Racial Hybrids in Rice (Oryza Sativa L.)

The studies on the correlation of the traits and their relative direct and indirect effects on yield are important, as they are helpful to adopt suitable selection procedure for yield improvement in inter-racial breeding programmes. In the present study, 15 wide compatible genotypes (11 tropical japonicas and four indicas) were crossed with six non-wide compatible genotypes (three each of indicas and japonicas) and 90 hybrids were obtained. With an emphasis on inter sub-specific hybrids, the 90 hybrids obtained as above were classified into four types viz., i) tropical japonica (11) x indica (3) type hybrids (33), ii) tropical japonica (11) x japonica (3) type hybrids (33), iii) indica (4) x indica (3) type hybrids (12) and iv) indica (4) x japonica (3) type hybrids (12). All the four types of hybrids were evaluated separately in Randomized Complete Block Design with two replications. The findings, in general for all the four types of cross combinations, suggested that productive tillers followed by filled grains per panicle and 100 grain weight are the important characters to bring about the improvement in yield potential of rice. The productive tillers attains importance as it is easier to record and simultaneously will increase filled grains thereby the grain yield.