AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE www.arccjournals.com *Corresponding author’s e-mail: sangeetha30nov@gmail.com Agric. Sci. Digest., 38 (1) 2018 : 52-54 Print ISSN:0253-150X / Online ISSN:0976-0547 Correlation and path analysis studies for parents and F 1 crosses in barnyard millet [Echinochloa frumentaceae (Roxb.) Link] for nutritional characters R. Sangeetha Vishnuprabha* and C. Vanniarajan Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai – 625 104, Tamil Nadu, India. Recieved: 06-10-2017 Accepted: 23-12-2017 DOI: 10.18805/ag.D-4689 ABSTRACT Association analysis was studied in twenty F1 crosses and five parents of barnyard millet to find out the association of nutrient characters and their direct and indirect effects on single plant yield. The results exhibited that the nutrient traits are inter-related and improvement of yield will bring about the simultaneous improvement of the nutrient characters also. Total phenols and iron content recorded moderate positive direct effects on single plant yield. Total anti-oxidant activity and zinc content had low negative direct effects on single plant yield that were neutralized by positive indirect effects of other traits. The analysis revealed that the improvement of yield will simultaneously bring improvement on total phenols and iron content directly and on total anti-oxidant activity and zinc content indirectly. Key words: Association analysis, F1 crosses, Iron content, Total anti-oxidant activity, Total phenols, Zinc content. INTRODUCTION Barnyard millet, fast growing crop in the dry land with minimum inputs has promising range of nutrient grains for the alleviation of micro nutrient deficiency in the developing countries around the world. In comparison to major food crop such as rice it has higher fiber content i.e., 9.8g/100g, fat content 5.8g/100g, calcium 14mg/100g, iron content 18.6mg/100g etc. Recent years have seen several food products being developed using grains of barnyard millet including flakes, biscuits, snacks, breads etc. (Joshi, 2013). Considering the importance of the crop for the present society, it is the requirement of the time to improve the nutritional quality of the crop along with the grain yield. Correlation coefficient is a statistical measure which is used to find out the degree (strength) and direction of relationship between two or more variables. Correlation analysis is a tool which provides information on the magnitude and intensity of association among yield components and yield. Path coefficient analysis is simply a standardized partial regression coefficient, which splits the correlation coefficient into the measures of direct and indirect effects of a set of yield attributing characters on grain yield. The path coefficient analysis allows partitioning of correlation coefficients into direct and indirect contributions (effects) of various traits towards dependent variable and thus, helps in assessing the cause-effect relationship. The result of such association analysis aids in selection for the selected trait along with other important traits also. To decide upon the selection criteria, knowledge on correlation should be accompanied by the understanding of magnitude of contribution of direct and indirect effects. Hence, in the present study association of various characters is studied using correlation and path analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS The material comprised of five parents viz., CO 2, ACM 145, ACM 161, ACM 331 and ACM 332 and 20 crosses (F 1 crosses) generated by crossing the five parents in full diallel mating design in the crossing block at the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural Institute, Madurai during 2014. The F 1 crosses and the parents were analyzed for iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) mineral content by triple acid extract method (Piper, 1966) and quantified in Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The total phenol and total anti-oxidant activity in seeds of the F 1 crosses and the parents were analyzed by Folin Ciocalcetu and DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) method , respectively. All the four nutritional analyses were replicated twice each. The data collected were analyzed for correlation co-efficient and path analysis using the following method. Correlation analysis: The genotypic correlation between yield and its component traits and among themselves was worked out as per the method suggested by Johnson et al. (1955). Genotypiccorrelation coefficient rg(xy) = y 2 x 2 (xy) g g COV.g    Where, rg(xy) = genotypic correlation coefficients,