Correlation and Path Coefficient Analysis for Agronomical Traits of Sorghum <i>[Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]</i> Genotypes Under Drought Stress Area

Ethiopia is the center of origin and domestication for sorghum with a wide range of collections from various agro-ecologies. However, there are many factors that hinder the production and productivity of sorghum. Drought is one of the most important factors that affect crop production worldwide and continues to be a challenge to plant breeders, despite many decades of research. The association of traits that may exist between or among sorghum characters is essential for breeders. Therefore, the present study is aimed to analyze and determine the traits having greater association with yield utilizing the correlation and path analysis for different traits of lowland Ethiopian sorghum genotypes. Therefore, the field experiment was conducted at Miesso to estimate the association of traits, and determine their direct and indirect effects on grain yield. The area represents dry lowlands where sorghum is predominantly grown by smallholder farmers. A set of 72 sorghum genotypes advanced from a pedigree breeding approach was used in this study. The experiment was laid out using Row-Column design with two replications during 2021 main cropping season. R statistical software was used to analyze the data. The analysis of variance indicated that there were significant variations among the tested genotypes for the studied traits. Grain yield had positive and highly significant correlation with panicle weight, panicle yield, stand count and grain filling rate at both genotypic and phenotypic levels. Grain yield had also negative and highly significantly correlation with days to flowering at both genotypic and phenotypic level and days to maturity at genotypic level. Path coefficient analysis indicated that grain filling rate exerted the highest positive direct effect on grain yield at both genotypic and phenotypic levels.