Abstract
Plants of chrysanthemum (Dendranthema grandiflora Tzvelev.) were grown under one of 25 irradiance and temperature combinations from start of short days to flower. Four phases of development were defined as 1) the start of short days to the appearance of 4-mm terminal flower buds (phase I), 2) appearance of 4-mm terminal flower buds to removal of lateral flower buds when the terminal flower bud was 7 to 8 mm (phase II), 3) removal of lateral flower buds to flower buds showing first color (phase III), and 4) flower buds showing color to flowering (phase IV). Path analysis was used to study the influence of development time and relative dry weight gain during each of these four phases on development time and relative dry weight gain of subsequent phases. Relative dry matter accumulation during phases I, II, III, and IV significantly influenced cumulative relative dry weight gain, with phase I having the greatest influence. Increasing relative dry weight gain during phase I had a significant negative effect on relative dry weight gain in phase II. Time within each phase significantly affected total time to flower. Under the constant environmental conditions of this experiment, time in one phase did not influence the length of time in later phases.
Path analysis is a statistical method for determining the magnitude and direction of multiple effects on a complex process. We used path analysis to determine the direct effects of nightshade density on yield components (number of green fruit per plant, rotted fruit per plant, total fruit per plant, and weight per fruit) of the processing tomato cv. Heinz 6004. In addition, the analysis indicated the direct and indirect effects of yield components on total yield per ha and marketable yield per ha. The greatest direct effects of eastern black nightshade and black nightshade were on green fruit per plant and total fruit per plant. Effects other than density (density-independent factors) were more important in determining the number of rotted fruit per plant and weight per fruit. Path analysis showed that the total number of fruit per plant was the most important yield component determining total yield and marketable yield per ha.
Path analysis is a statistical method for determining the magnitude and direction of multiple effects on a complex process. We used path analysis to assess 1) the impact of black nightshade(Solarium nigrum L.) or eastern black nightshade(Solarium ptycanthum Dun.) competition on the yield components of `Heinz 6004' processing tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) and 2) the relationship between tomato yield components and total and marketable yield. Either black or eastern black nightshade was interplanted with tomatoes at population densities from 0 to 4.8/m2. Path analysis revealed that increasing weed population density led directly to fewer green and total fruit per plant, two components of marketable yield. However, the percentage of culls per plant and fruit weight were not affected by nightshade population density. Using correlation coefficients alone would have lead to the erroneous conclusion that the percentage of culls did not affect marketable yield; our path analysis demonstrated that decreasing the percentage of culls through breeding or cultural practices will strongly affect marketable yield. The total number of fruit was the most important yield component in determining total and marketable yields per plant. Breeding and management practices that maximize fruit set, increase maturity at harvest, and decrease the percentage of culls would be expected to increase marketable yield.
Abstract
A path-coefficient analysis was used to furnish information on the inter-relationships of pollinating insect activity and components of seed yield in inbreds of Allium cepa L. The inbreds differed very significantly in their attractiveness to pollinating insects. Only one inbred exhibited a significant correlation (P <0.05 positive) between numbers of honey bees and seed yields. Separating the correlation coefficients into components of direct and indirect effects indicated that pollination attractiveness was not the limiting factor in seed set for inbreds in the experiment. Moreover, most of the variation in seed yield could be attributed to indirect effects on the components of yield, umbels per plant, flowers per umbel, percent per fertilized flower, and seeds per fertilized flower.
The relationships between fruit yield and yield components in several cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) populations were investigated as well as how those relationships changed with selection for improved fruit yield. In addition, the correlations between fruit yield and yield components were partitioned into partial regression coefficients (path coefficients and indirect effects). Eight genetically distinct pickling and slicing cucumber populations, differing in fruit yield and quality, were previously subjected to modified half-sib family recurrent selection. Eight families from three selection cycles (early, intermediate, late) of each population were evaluated for yield components and fruit number per plant in four replications in each of two testing methods, seasons, and years. Since no statistical test for comparing the magnitudes of two correlations was available, a correlation (r) of 0.7 to 1.0 or –0.7 to –1.0 (r 2 ≥ 0.49) was considered strong, while a correlation of –0.69 to 0.69 was considered weak. The number of branches per plant had a direct positive effect on, and was correlated (r = 0.7) with the number of total fruit per plant over all populations, cycles, seasons, years, plant densities, and replications. The number of nodes per branch, the percentage of pistillate nodes, and the percentage of fruit set were less correlated (r < |0.7|) with total fruit number per plant (fruit yield) than the number of branches per plant. Weak correlations between yield components and fruit yield often resulted from weak correlations among yield components. The correlations among fruit number traits were generally strong and positive (r ≥ 0.7). Recurrent selection for improved fruit number per plant maintained weak path coefficients and correlations between yield components and total fruit number per plant. Selection also maintained weak correlations among yield components. However, the correlations and path coefficients of branch number per plant on the total fruit number became more positive (r = 0.67, 0.75, and 0.82 for early, intermediate, and late cycles, respectively) with selection. Future breeding should focus on selecting for the number of branches per plant to improve total fruit number per plant.
its extracts for various medicinal uses and industrial uses for edible oil ( Rehman et al., 2012 ). The common path analysis approach might result in multicollinearity for variables, particularly when associations among some of the traits are high
and hairy, and has 8 to 12 nodes. The fruit is fleshy and sphere-shaped, and each plant can produce ≈2 kg of fruit during the entire harvest period ( Lima et al., 2009 ). Path coefficient analysis or path analysis has been widely used to understand
–and-effect relationships in the variables, because the association between two variables may depend on a third variable. The use of path analysis provides a plausible explanation of observed correlations by modeling the cause-and-effect relations between the variables
estimate the interrelation among the agronomic traits (Boo et al., 1990). Hierarchical cluster analysis shows the similarity of the samples ( Peeters and Martinelli, 1989 ). Path analysis serves as a great tool to evaluate the relationship among agronomic
genotypes for all traits. Path coefficient analysis was used to analyze the standardized phenotypic means of measurements as outlined by Akintunde (2012) . Path analysis has been used for other crops to understand the complex interactions that underlie