Agrotechniques in Industrial Crops, 2021, 1(1): 11-18 Identification of Promising Oilseed Rape Genotypes for the Tropical Regions of Iran Using Multivariate Analysis Behnam Bakhshi 1 , Hassan Amiri Oghan *2 , Bahram Alizadeh 2 , Valiollah Rameeh 3 , Kamal Payghamzadeh 4 , Davood Kiani 5 , Mohammad Rabiee 6 , Abbas Rezaizad 7 , Gholamhossein Shiresmaeili 8 , Alireza Dalili 9 , Shahriar Kia 4 1 Horticulture Crops Research Department, Sistan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Zabol, Iran 2 Seed and Plant Improvement Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, AREEO, Karaj, Iran 3 Horticulture Crops Research Department, Mazanderan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Sari, Iran 4 Horticulture Crops Research Department, Golestan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center,AREEO, Gorgan, Iran 5 Horticulture Crops Research Department, Boshehr Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Borazjan, Iran 6 Rice Research Institute of Iran, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, AREEO, Rasht, Iran. 7 Horticulture Crops Research Department, Kermanshah Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education center, AREEO, Kermanshah, Iran 8 Horticulture Crops Research Department, Esfahan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Isfahan, Iran 9 Plant Protection Research Department, Mazanderan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Sari, Iran. ARTICLE INFO Original paper Article history: Received: 9 Mar 2021 Accepted: 19 May 2021 Published: 27 Jun 2021 Keyword: Brassica napus Correlation Cluster analysis and path analysis Oilseed rape ABSTRACT Releasing new adapted oilseed rape cultivars among the available resources of rapeseed would be a valuable method to increase the cultivar diversity in the tropical regions. Low adaptable and high yield cultivars resources of oilseed rapes are now available in the tropical regions of Iran. The current research aimed to identify new high yield and adaptable genotypes adaptable across various tropical regions. To this end, 20 new genotypes and a check variety (Dalgan) were cultivated in the five tropical regions of Iran based on a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications during the 2019 to 2020 cropping season. The experimental sites are composed of five locations in Iran, including Gorgan, Sari, Rasht, Borazjan and Zabol. During the growth season, several phenological and quantitative traits were recorded. Combined ANOVA revealed significant genotype by environment interaction for all studied quantitative traits. Days to start flowering and days to end flowering showed the highest heritability. Correlation analysis showed a significant positive relationship between yield and flowering period, the number of sub-branches and also the number of pods per plant, but a negative and significant correlation with the days to maturity. Path analysis showed that the days to maturity had the most negative direct effect on yield and the days to start flowering, while the number of sub-branches had the most positive direct effect on yield. Canonical correlation showed that yield is correlated positively with phenological traits. The principal component analysis showed that the two first components covered 68.07% of all data variations which 12 genotypes were correlated with these two components. Cluster analysis categorized evaluated genotypes into three main groups. Finally, eight genotypes were selected in the current study, which had high yield and adaptability in the tropical regions of Iran. DOI: 10.22126/ETIC.2021.6242.1003 ©2021 Published by Razi University * Corresponding author. E-mail address: oghanamarco@gmail.com Agrotechniques in Industrial Crops Journal Homepage: https://atic.razi.ac.ir