Character association for seed yield components in grasspea (Lathyrus sativus L.)

Abstract

The relationships of different plant characters with the seed yield in grasspea (Lathyrus sativus L.) were examined over the years through the study of genotypic and phenotypic correlations and path coefficient analysis in an attempt to decipher consistent relationships of the characters which interact frequently with the everchanging environment. Widely divergent nine genotypes were taken for the study. Of them Nirmal, Hooghly Local and Midnapur Local from West Bengal and P-24 , P-28, P-90, P-505 and Sel 1276 were from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, while Exotic Bold was from Syria. The genotypes were grown with normal cuitural practices during November-March in 1996, 1997 and 1998 in a randomized block design with three replications maintaining 1 meter distance between the rows and 40 cm between the plants. From each plot 15 plants excluding border were taken at random to record observations on ten different characters.