Razzan Al Najjar*⁽¹⁾ Saoud Shehab⁽¹⁾ Ghassan Al Lahham⁽¹⁾ Ali Wannous⁽¹⁾  Sameer Al Ahmad⁽¹⁾ and Thamer Al Henish⁽¹⁾

(1). Crops Research Administration, General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research (GCSAR), Damascus, Syria.

(*Corresponding author: Dr. Razzan Al Najjar. E-Mail: razanhamoda2009@gmail.com)

Received: 26/08/ 2015                                     Accepted: 18/09/ 2015

Abstract

The study carried out at Corn Research Department, General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research, Damascus/Syria, during seasons 2011 and 2012, in order to estimate the correlation, and path coefficients of some yield components and morphological traits i.e. number of rows per ear, ear length and ear diameter (cm), number of grains per ear, 100 grain weight (g), grain yield of individual plant (g), plant height, and ear height(cm). In this study SH maize families were used, which are improved by the National Program in Syria. The experiment was conducted using randomized complete block design (RCBD), with three replications. The results showed a high significant positive correlation between grain yield of the individual plant, and each of plant height (r=0.879 **) ear length, height, and diameter (r=0.587 **, 0.818 **, 0.873 **) respectively, and number of grain per ear (r=0.863 **) and 100 grain weight (r=0.700 **), and number of rows per ear (r=0.798 **). According to that, those traits are considered selection criteria to improve grain yield in maize. The study of path analysis revealed that each of ear diameter, number of grain per row, and ear height, are the most studied traits that contribute of grain yield of individual plant (% 92.2), and thus they could be adopted as a selection criterion, in improving grain yield of maize crop.

Key word: Correlation coefficient, Path coefficient, Individual plant grain yield, Maize.

Full paper in Arabic:

معامل المسار والارتباط لبعض الصفات الشكيلة ومكونات الغلة الحبية في الذرة الصفراء (.Zea mays L)