Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2018) 7(7): 177-187 177 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2018.707.022 Correlation and Path Coefficient Analysis in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) for Sodicity Tolerance Hamsa Poorna Prakash 1 *, O.P. Verma 1 , Amit Kumar Chaudhary 1 and Mohammad Amir 2 1 Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Seed Technology Section 2 Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Narendra Nagar, Kumarganj, Faizabad -224-229 (Uttar Pradesh), India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction India is the largest rice growing country in the world, but its productivity per unit area as compared to world average is low. Asia is considered as „Rice bowl‟ of the world, occupying 90% world‟s rice area. More than 90 per cent of the world‟s rice is grown and consumed in Asia, where 60 per cent of Earth‟s people live. Rice accounts for 35 per cent to 75 per cent of the calories consumed by more than 3 billion Asians. The rice plant can grow up to 3.3– 5.9 ft. tall, depending on the variety and fertility status of soil. Blooming of spikelets starts at the apex of the panicle and proceeds downward. The blooming normally occurs between 10 AM and 2 PM. A panicle remains in bloom for 2 to 4 days but may extend up to 7- 10 days. Though it is self-pollinated extent of natural crossing varies from 0- 3% (Poehlman, 1987). Rice is believed to have evolved around 130 million years ago (Chang, 1976). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 07 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com The present investigation entitled “Correlation and Path coefficient analysis in Rice for sodicity tolerance” comprised of 7 lines and 3 testers recommended for sodic soil. Crosses were made in “line x tester mating design (Kempthorne, 1957). Thus 21 crosses (F 1 ‟s) were produced during 2015. The values of average degree of dominance greater than unity (>1) in addition to predictability ratio (<1) along with higher values of σ 2 SCA than σ 2 GCA revealed existence of over dominance for all the traits. Tester effect is higher than Line effect for all traits confirming predominant role of non-additive gene action in the inheritance of all the characters studied. Grain yield per plant showed highly significant and positive correlation with plant height, flag leaf area, panicle bearing tillers per plant, panicle length, grains per panicle, 1000 grain weight and biological yield per plant. Path analysis showed that, the high positive direct effects on grain yield per plant were exerted by biological yield per plant followed by harvest index. Hence, these traits should be emphasized during selection of rice genotypes under sodic soil. Keywords Rice, Correlation, Direct and indirect effect (path), Sodic Accepted: 04 June 2018 Available Online: 10 July 2018 Article Info