Rice Genomics and Genetics 2015, Vol.6, No.1, 1-5
1
Research Report Open Access
Correlation and Path Analysis for Iron and Zinc Content in Segregating
Population of Rice
Sala M.
1
, S. Geetha
2
1. Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai, India
2. Anbil Dharmalingam, Agricultural College &Research Institute, Trichy, India
Corresponding author email:
Rice Genomics and Genetics, 2015, Vol.6, No.1 doi: 10.5376/rgg.2015.06.0001
Received: 21 Jan., 2015
Accepted: 05 Mar., 2015
Published: 11 Mar., 2015
Copyright
©
2015
Sala and Geetha, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Sala and Geetha, 2015, Correlation and Path Analysis for Iron and Zinc Content in Segregating Population of Rice, Rice Genomics and Genetics, Vol.6, No.1
1
-
5 (doi:
10.5376/rgg.2015.06.0001
)
Abstract
Correlation and path analysis was carried out for yield and yield components in F
4
generation. The correlation analysis
indicated that the characters namely
days to fifty percent flowering, plant height, number of productive tillers per plant, hundred
grain weight, kernel breadth and kernel L/B ratio, kernel breadth after cooking, breadth wise expansion ratio, linear elongation ratio
and zinc content exhibited positive and significant correlation with grain yield. All these characters were also inter correlated among
themselves. Iron content showed negative association with yield. Plant height, number of filled grains per panicle, hundred grain
weight, kernel breadth, kernel L/B ratio and zinc content showed positive high to very high direct contribution with grain yield. So
above traits might be given importance during selection which may result in yield improvement. Here plant height and days to fifty
percent flowering and zinc content exhibited significant positive association in above two cross combinations. Zinc content had
positive correlation with yield. So TRY (R) 2 × Mapillai Samba cross used simultaneous improvement of zinc with grain yield.
Keywords
Biofortification; Correlation; Iron & Zinc content; Path analysis
Introduction
Rice is the dominant cereal crop in many
developing countries and also the staple food for
more than half of the world’s population. Currently,
polished rice contains an average of 2 parts per
million (ppm) iron (Fe) content and 12 ppm of zinc
(Zn) content. In many Asian countries, rice provides
50-80 percent of the energy intake of the poor but it
does not provide enough essential micronutrients to
eliminate “hidden hunger,” in particular Iron
Deficiency Anemia (IDA) and zinc deficiency. In
India the IDA affects nearly 60 percent of the
population. Because of the high per capita
consumption of rice in these countries, improving
its nutritive value by increasing iron and zinc levels
in the grain can have significant positive health
outcomes for millions of people. Developing rice
with high iron and zinc through the process of
“biofortification” aims to combine high mineral
content with grain quality and agronomic
characteristics, such as high yield to ensure
acceptability by farmers and consumers.
1 Materials and Methods
Seeds of F
3
generation of two cross combinations
generated from Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural
College and Research Institute, Trichy.
viz.,
ADT
37×IR68144-3B-2-2-3, TRY (R) 2×Mapillaisamba
were utilized as the experimental material in the
present study. Among the parents
viz
., TRY (R) 2,
ADT 37 and ADT 43 are high yielding commercial
varieties, where IC 255787 (3.94 ppm) and
IR68144-3B-2-2-3 (4.39 ppm) are the iron donors and
Mapillaisamba (3.50 ppm) is a zinc donor these
lines were used in earlier hybridization programme
for introgression of high iron and zinc content in
high yielding varieties Table 1. The F
4
generation
was raised during August to November, 2011 at
Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai.
The F
4
progenies were raised along with their parents
in randomized block design with two replications. A
total of five families were selected from each cross
combination based on high iron and zinc content in F
3
population. For each family seventy five seedlings per
replication were raised with a spacing of 20 cm
between the rows and 15 cm between the plants. Each
