Genetic correlation, path and multivariate analysis in rice under coastal saline ecosystem of Tamil Nadu.

Aim: The present experiment was investigated to elucidate the correlation and their interrelationship among different characteristics and evaluate the direct and indirect impact traits of rice genotypes under east coastal region of Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu (India). Methodology: The study was conducted under the coastal saline ecosystem at the Plant Breeding Farm, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Annamalai University, during the major planting season of 2022-23. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design with three replicates. Results: Character association analysis indicated that among the nine agro-morphological traits, four traits number of tillers per plant, number panicles per plant, number of grains per panicle and thousand grain weight had significant and positive association with grain yield per plant. Path coefficient studies showed that the number of panicles per plant, number of grains per panicle and thousand grain weight had maximum direct effect on the grain yield per plant. Principal component analysis disclosed that the first four components with Eigen values greater than 1.00 contributed about 70.49% of the total variability in the studied accessions involving all the nine characters. Interpretation: Correlation studies indicated that yield can be enhanced by prioritizing the number of tillers per plant, number panicles per plant, number of grains per panicle and thousand grain weight during selection. The study also revealed that direct selection of the number panicles per plant, number of grains per panicle and thousand grain weight could be exploited for improving grain yield in saline breeding programme. Based on the interaction vectors and PC scores of genotypes, G26 (Ranjith), G44 (STBN 4), G60 (Pokkali) and G34 (IR64) were identified as high yielding which can be widely utilized for the development of new diverse varieties for enhanced grain yield under saline conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]