Character Association and Path Co-efficient Analysis Among Inbred Lines of Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. BR.)

A field experiment with 70 pearl millet inbred lines was carried out for analysis of character association and path coefficient for 21 metric traits. A perusal of character association indicated highly significant positive association of panicle weight, green fodder yield plant-1, dry fodder yield plant-1, number of productive tillers plant-1, spike girth, plant height, leaf blade length, number of nodes plant-1, spike length, harvest index, threshing percentage, leaf blade width and specific leaf area at 45 DAS with grain yield plant-1 as well as among themselves at both phenotypic and genotypic levels. Path coefficient analysis indicated that kernel yield plant-1 exhibited high positive direct effect on panicle weight followed by threshing percentage and green fodder yield plant-1. Critical analysis of results obtained from character association and path analysis indicated that grain yield plant-1 had strong positive association with panicle weight which also had high magnitude of positive direct effect. This reveals the importance of this component trait in selection of superior genotypes for higher yield in genotypes of pearl millet.