Evaluation on Genetic Variation, Correlation and Path Analysis in Zaid Maize (Zea mays L.) for Quantitative Characters

The present investigation was carried out to evaluate genetic variability parameters, correlation and path analysis in twenty-one maize genotypes for 21 quantitative traits in Zaid 2023 at Field Experimentation Centre, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology and Sciences, Uttar Pradesh in Randomized Block Design replicated thrice. Analysis of Variance for all characters revealed that treatment differences were highly significant under study at 1% level. Genotype MZ-1917 depicted highest grain yield in the grown environment. The values of PCV were higher than GCV values for all the characters and large differences PCV between the values of PCV and GCV of characters like number of leaves per plant, leaf length, tassel length, cob length, cob girth and shelling percentage indicating that environmental factors significantly influenced the expression of these traits. All the traits studied had higher heritability, high genetic advance coupled with high heritability was observed for anthesis-silking intervals, ear height, cob weight, number of kernels per row, shank weight, 100 kernels weight, biological yield and grain yield per plant indicating the presence of large proportion of additive genetic action deciding these traits. Correlation and path coefficient analysis suggest that selection based on characters cob length, cob weight, shank weight, 100 kernels weight had positive correlation and direct effects with grain yield per plant. Therefore, it concludes that effective selection must be attempted for these traits, which would help in improvement of grain yield in maize genotypes grown during Zaid season of eastern Uttar Pradesh.