In order to determine the relationship between grain yield and yield components, an experiment was conducted to evaluate 36 genotypes of rice using a simple lattice design, in the year 2000. In this study 17 traits including grain yield, number of panicle per plant, number of filled grain per panicle, 100-grain weight, leaf length, leaf width, leaf area, plant height, culm length, amylose content of the grain, gel consistency, panicle weight, grain length, grain width, grain shape, days’ to 50% of flowering and maturity were assessed on 10 random plants from each plot. Analysis of variance showed a highly significant difference among the genotypes for all the traits. Also the results showed that the grain yield had a positive and significant genotypic correlation with number of panicle per plant, number of filled grain per panicle, grain weight, grain maturity and days to 50% of flowering. Stepwise regression analysis showed that the maximum variation in grain yield could be attributed to the number of panicle per plant, number of filled grain per panicle, 100-grain weight and leaf length. The results of path analysis indicated that the number of panicle per plant and number of filled grains per panicle were the most important components of high direct effect on grain yield. Factor analysis resulted in six factors that determined 83.6% of the total variation. The second factor along with the sixth factor accounted for 27.3% of total variation and was designated as “yield and yield component” factor. The first, third, fourth and fifth factors were identified as morphological traits, growth and maturity stage, grain appearance and grain cooking quality” factors respectively.
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