The Journal of Research ANGRAU

J.Res. ANGRAU 36(1) 16 - 20, 2008
CHARACTER ASSOCIATION AND PATH ANALYSIS IN TWENTY
ONE F 3
PROGENIES OF MUNGBEAN (Vigna Radiata (L.) Wilczek)
M. SHANTI PRIYA and K.H.P.REDDY
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding
Sri Venkateswara Veterinary Agricultural College,
Tirupati 517502, A.P.
ABSTRACT
The investigation was undertaken with an objective to study character association and path analysis
in 21 F 3
progenies of greengram during rabi 1996 at S.V. Agricultural College Farm, Tirupati. Character
associations revealed the strong positive correlation of seed yield with pods per plant, clusters per plant, pods
per cluster and plant height and among themselves. However, path coefficient analysis showed that the
characters pods per plant, pods per cluster and seeds per pod had high positive direct effects on grain yield
in F 3
progenies. Moreover, the indirect effects of most of the characters through pods per plant, pods per
cluster and seeds per pod were high and positive.
Yield is a complex character and it is influenced by several genetic factors interacting
with environment. A clear understanding of the association of plant characters with yield is
necessary for successful crop improvement programme. Correlation coefficients reveal the
magnitude and the direction of association of yield components among themselves and with
yield. Path coefficient analysis helps in partitioning of the correlation coefficient into direct
and indirect effects of yield components on yield. Moreover, correlation in conjunction with
path analysis gives a clear idea of nature of association and their relative contribution to
yield. This information is of prime importance in formulating selection criteria.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The experimental material consisted of 21 F 3
progenies of mung bean derived from
diallel analysis without reciprocals. The experiment was laid out in a randomised block design
with three replications at S.V. Agricultural College Farm, Tirupati in rabi, 1996. Each plot
consisted of 3 rows of 5m length. A uniform spacing of 30 cm between the rows and 15 cm
within the row was adopted. Thirty plants were tagged randomly in each replication for each
entry for recording the observations on 11 characters. The plant means obtained for each
character were used for statistical analysis. Phenotypic and genotypic correlation coefficients
were calculated using the method given by Johnson et al. (1955). Path analysis was carried
out as suggested by Wright (1934) and as illustrated by Dewey and Lu (1959).
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