Association analysis under normal and saline environments in bread wheat (T. aestivum L. Em. Thell.)

Characters effective tillers per plant, grains per ear and grain yield per ear had positive and significant correlations with grain yield per plant in all the saline as well as normal environments, while ear length had positive and significant correlation with grain yield per plant in E₂, E₃ and E₄. These correlations were also very high at genotypic level. Correlations between ear length and spikelets per spike and also between grains per ear and grain yield per ear were positive and significant in all the four environments. Under normal environments selection for grains per ear, effective tillers per plant, ear length and spikelets per ear would be effective in improving grain yield per plant. Under saline environments selection for effective tillers per plant, grains per ear, grain yield per ear along with selection for ear length and spikelets per ear would be effective for the improvement of grain yield. Correlation for the pooled data indicated that selection for ear length, spikelets per ear, effective tillers per plant, grains per ear and grain yield per ear would be effective for the improvement grain yield under both normal and saline environments.