Path Analysis of Genetic Correlations of Morphological Characteristics Affecting Yield and Grouping of Strawberry Genotypes, Using Multivariate Statistical Technique

In order to determine the relationship between yield and yield components and understanding the direct and indirect effects of morphological traits on yield, twenty genotypes of strawberry were studied. An experiment was done based on a randomized complete block design with three replications at Agricultural Research Center of Kurdistan. Morphological traits (number of leaf, runner, crown, inflorescence, flower and fruit per plant, and leaf area, leaf length/wide, petiole length, number of flower per inflorescence, fruit set, fruit size, inflorescence length, fruit weight and yield) were measured.Four components derived from principal component analysis accounted nearly 73% of whole variability in the evaluated genotypes. All genotypes were grouped into five clusters according to cluster analysis using Ward method and squared Euclidean distance coefficient. Results of biplot, were consistent largely with the results of principal components analysis and cluster analysis. Results of correlation analysis showed similar trends for genotypic and phenotypic correlations and in the most cases, the value for genotypic correlation was greater than phenotypic value. There were positive and significant genotypic and phenotypic correlation between number of leaf, crown, inflorescence, flower and fruit per plant and petiole length, number of flower per inflorescence, fruit set, fruit size, inflorescence length, fruit weight with yield; but correlation between number of leaf, runner and leaf length/wide with yield were not significant. The result of stepwise regression analysis showed that fruit set, fruit size, number of fruit were entered to the regression model with a determination coefficient of 0.95. Genetic Path coefficient analysis revealed that fruit size had the highest direct positive effect on yield and number of fruit had the highest indirect negative effect on yield by fruit size.