Association studies in barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea (Roxb.) Link) for early maturity and yield contributing traits at high altitude region

Abstract

Barnyard millet is an under-utilized minor millet which is being popularized nowadays bestowing with high nutrient content in grains. Fourty genotypes were evaluated in high altitude region to determine the correlation and path coefficient among the yield and yield attributing traits. Correlation analysis evinced that grain yield per plant had positive significant correlation with agro-morphological traits viz., plant height, days to flowering, days to maturity, number of nodes, stem diameter, length of flag leaf, width of flag leaf, length of inflorescence, width of inflorescence, length of lower racemes, number of racemes and thousand grain weight. The trait length of peduncle alone expressed negative significance with grain yield. The path coefficient estimation indicated that stem diameter had exposed high magnitude of direct effect on grain yield. Henceforth, the direct selection based on the flawless relationship between grain yield and these traits would benefit in selecting high yielding genotypes.

Keywords

• correlation coefficient
• path analysis
• barnyard millet