CORRELATION AND PATH COEFFICIENT ANALYSIS IN GROUNDNUT (ARACHIS HYPOGAEA L.) UNDER MONSOON AND POST MONSOON.

Direct selection based on crop yield is often a paradox in breeding programs because yield is a complex character, influenced by its component traits. Breeding programs should, therefore, take into consideration character association of various component traits with yield and among themselves. Field experiments were carried out to study the association of yield and some characters among the tested groundnut genotypes and to estimate direct and indirect effects of selected traits on yield. Field experiments were conducted at Oilseed Crops Section, Department of Agricultural Research (DAR),Yezin in monsoon season and post monsoon season (2012-2013). High heritability (broad sense) was observed for yield plant-1 , hundred pod weight, specific leaf area, days to maturity and plant height in both seasons, it is indicating that the possibility of success in trait selection for breeding. High heritability estimates generally enable the breeder to select plants on the basis of phenotypic expression. The genotypic correlation coefficient indicated that hundred pod weight, hundred seed weight, shelling percent, specific chlorophyll meter reading, days to maturity, plant height and number of pod plant-1 had the significant positive association on yield plant-1 in both seasons. Therefore, it can be suggested that the selection of these traits will lead to yield improvement. Specific leaf area showed negative genotypic correlation with yield plant-1 in both seasons. The path coefficient analysis based on yield, as a dependent variable implicated that hundred seed weight, days to maturity and plant height had a positive direct effect on yield under monsoon and post monsoon. These result suggested that improvement in yield could be attained by selecting groundnut genotypes for higher hundred seed weight, days to maturity and plant height. Among the tested groundnut genotypes, Padamyar, ICGV-00350, ICGV-00351 exhibited high mean performances of yield per plant, shelling percent and harvest index in both seasons. Thus these varieties should be considered as high yield varieties while selecting groundnut varieties for breeding program.