Shweta Tiwari, Sunny Thakur, Tasphiya Elahi, Roshini Bhagat and Bhavna Yadav
Abstract
This study investigates the correlation and path coefficient analysis of 90 rice (Oryza sativa L.) restorer lines evaluated for 29 quantitative and qualitative traits to identify key contributors to grain yield. The analysis revealed that traits such as panicle length, panicle index, productive tillers per plant, and harvest index exhibited strong positive correlations with grain yield and exerted significant direct effects. These traits were identified as reliable selection criteria for genetic improvement and hybrid breeding programs. Restorer lines with favourable traits, such as total spikelets per panicle, fertile spikelets per panicle, and spikelet density percentage, were positively correlated with late maturity. This indicates that late-maturing lines may serve as superior restorers compared to their early-maturing counterparts. Key traits for yield improvement include stem length, panicle length, panicle index, spikelet density percentage, productive tillers per plant, length-to-breadth ratio, harvest index, biological yield per plant, and decorticated grain width. These findings provide valuable insights for the development of robust hybridization and breeding strategies to optimize grain yield in rice.