Relationship among traits and path analysis for grain yield of winter wheat cultivars under normal and drought stress conditions

The usefulness of any corrective program is determined by the relationship between the grain yield and the factors affecting it. For this purpose, 25 winter wheat cultivars were planted and evaluated in a randomized complete block design with three replications in a field experiment at the Faculty of Agriculture, Karaj Azad University, Karaj, Iran under two irrigation conditions (normal irrigation and irrigation after the spike stage). 17 traits were measured and evaluated. Simple correlation coefficients of traits indicated a positive and significant correlation between grain yield and days to flowering, biological yield and harvest index in normal conditions, and traits related to rooting, biological yield, harvest index and peduncle outflow length in drought stress conditions. The results of stepwise regression confirmed the relation between grain yield and biological yield., path analysis was performed for the traits introduced in the stepwise regression model and in both normal and stress conditions the most direct effect on grain yield had belonged to biological yield.