YIELD TRAIT ANALYSIS IN RICE (ORYZA SATIVA L.) RESTORER LINES THROUGH GENETIC VARIABILITY, CORRELATION AND PATH COEFFICIENT STUDIES

A successful breeding program requires sufficient genetic variability, along with an understanding of the associations between traits and their relative contributions to yield.In this regard, the experiment was conducted to evaluate genetic variability, correlation, and path coefficients for thirteen yield-related traits in eighty restorer lines during kharif 2020 at Seed Breeding Farm, Rice Improvement Project, Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.The marginally higher phenotypic coefficient of variation compared to the genotypic coefficient suggests minimal environmental impact, with genetic factors predominantly driving trait expression.The number of fertile spikelets per panicle showed the high estimates of PCV and GCV, followed by total spikelets per panicle, grain yield per plant, and flag leaf width.Most traits showed high heritability and significant genetic advance as a percentage of the mean, suggesting simple selection methods based on phenotypic expression would be effective for improving grain yield.Correlation analysis showed strong positive association of grain yield per plant with panicle weight, fertile spikelets per panicle, total spikelets per panicle, number of tillers per plant, number of effective tillers per plant and width and length of the flag leaf suggesting that selecting these traits for yield improvement could be advantageous.Among these, panicle weight and fertile spikelets per panicle showed significant positive direct effects on grain yield, highlighting their importance for selection in yield improvement programs.Furthermore, the findings from this study can be utilized in future rice breeding programs.