Path coefficient and cluster analyses of yield and morphological traits in Pennisetum purpureum.pdf

Tropical Grasslands (2010) Volume 44, 95–102 95 Path coefficient and cluster analyses of yield and morphological traits in Pennisetum purpureum XIA ZHANG, HONGRU GU, CHENGLONG DING, XIAOXIAN ZHONG, JIANLI ZHANG and NENGXIANG XU Institute of Animal Science, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, China Abstract In order to develop and select improved popula- tions and germplasm of elephant grass for forage and bioenergy production, important morpholog- ical traits including dry matter yield, leaf:stem ratio, plant height, tillers/plant, leaf length, leaf width and stem width were investigated in 16 lines of elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum), one purple elephant grass and hybrid pennisetum (pearl millet × elephant grass). Data were exam- ined using correlation analysis, path analysis and cluster analysis. Plant height and tillers/plant were positively (P0.05) correlated with yield, while leaf length and leaf:stem ratio were neg- atively (P0.05) correlated with DM yield. The factors with greatest effect on DM yield were plant height and leaf:stem ratio. The elephant grasses and hybrid pennisetum were divided into 4 groups by cluster analysis based on DM yield, leaf:stem ratio, plant height etc. The 4 groups were: Group 1 - dwarf type with numerous tillers, lowest DM yield and highest leaf:stem ratio; Group 2 - semi-dwarf types with plentiful tillers, plus higher DM yields and plant heights and fewer tillers/plant than Group 1; Group 3 - inter- mediate height types with moderate tillering, but higher DM yields than Groups 1 and 2; Group 4 - tall types with limited tillering but highest DM yields and lowest leaf:stem ratios. Introduction Elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum), also known as napier grass, is a warm-season peren- nial grass, which is widely planted in tropical and subtropical regions of the world (Wang et al. 2005). It is known throughout much of the wet tropics for its prolific growth and usage as forage for r