Correlation, Stepwise Regression and Path Analysis in Wheat Recombinant Inbred Lines under Aluminum Stress Conditions Correlation, Stepwise Regression and Path Analysis in Wheat Lines under Aluminum Stress

Aluminum (Al) toxicity is the main factor limiting crop productivity in acidic soils around the world. In order to investigate the effect of aluminum stress on grain yield and other important yield components in wheat and some cause and effect relationships between them, 167 of the Seri/Babax recombinant wheat inbred lines (RIL) and parental cultivars were evaluated using alpha lattice design with two replications under normal aluminum stress conditions during two years (2014-2015 and 2015-2016). Grain yield showed positive correlation with seed germination, peduncle length, internode distance, plant height, grain number per spike and harvest index under normal condition. Similar results were also revealed between grain yield and stem elongation, ear emergence, peduncle length, internode distance, plant height, 1000-grain weight, straw weight and harvest index under aluminum stress. Results of stepwise regression and path analysis in both aluminum and normal conditions revealed that both harvest index and straw weight can be a criterion to select high-yielding lines in breeding bread wheat programs. In addition to the harvest index and straw weight, 1000-grain weight and number per spike were the most important components affecting grain yield.

Keywords:

Aluminum , correlation , regression , path analysis