VEGETOS : Une revue internationale de recherche sur les plantes

Character Association and Path Co-efficient Studies in Lettuce (lactuca sativa L.) Under Temperate Conditions of Jammu & Kashmir

R K Samnotra, Arun Gupta, R K Gupta, Rahul Sharma and V S Verma

Character Association and Path Co-efficient Studies in Lettuce (lactuca sativa L.) Under Temperate Conditions of Jammu & Kashmir

An experiment consisting of 23 genotypes of lettuce was designed to study character association and path co-efficient between eight economic characters in lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.). The genotypic correlations were higher than the corresponding phenotypic ones for most of the characters thereby suggesting importance of inherent traits in selection programme. Leaf yield per plant was found significantly and positively correlated with plant spread, number of leaves per plant and leaf area during both the seasons. Plant height, average leaf weight and duration of picking showed strong positive correlation among themselves during winter season only whereas days to first picking was negatively correlated with plant spread, number of leaves per plant, leaf area and Leaf yield per plant during both the growing seasons. Path analysis depicted that number of leaves per plant and average leaf weight had direct effect on the leaf yield in both the seasons .The plant spread, number of leaves per plant and leaf area exhibited significant positive correlation and also most of them had either direct or indirect effect on leaf yield. The other characters viz. plant height, average leaf weight and duration of picking which shows significant correlation and positive direct effect on leaf yield during winter may also be considered during selection as lettuce being a winter season crop, selection should be done in its main growing season..