INTRODUCTION
Crop yield is a complex character, its genetic analysis is rather difficult . seed cotton yield is the resultant product of component characters which is not
under direct control of any gene . An improvement of component characters leads in the improvement of yield and its components . Knowledge of mechanism of association , cause-effect relationship and derect and indirect effects of components /characters provides a basis in formulating suitable selection methods on the basis of yield components . In the present study the phenotypic correlation coefficient and path coefficient analysis were computed on 300F2 plants of cross CNHPT- 1 Xrhc - 1488.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
Four hundred F2 plants of cotton cross, CNHPT-1 x RHC- 1488 were grown in Randomized Block Design in each of the there replications at post Graduate Institute , Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri . Sowing was done in rows of 6 m length and 90 cm apart accomodating 10 plant at 60 cm distance . The observations were recorded on randomly selected 200 plants from each replication for seven characters . path coefficient analysis was done following Dewey and Lu, (1959).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The estimate of simple correlation coefficients presented in Table 1 revealed significant positive correlation of weed cotton yield with plant height, number of sympodia per plant, number of bolls per plant, average boll weight and ginning per centage. It was negatively correlated with days to flowering (-0.064). Tyage (1994)and Rao et al (2001). Plant height showed significant positive correlation with number of sympodia per plant, number of bolls per plant and ginning per centage. Number of sympodia per plant had snowed significant positive correlation with number of bolls per plant , ginning per centage and seed cotton yield per plant.

Path coefficient analysis revealed that number of bolls per plant and average boll weight had a strong positive direct effect on seed cotton yield followed by number of sympodia per plant indicating their relatively high direct contribution to seed cotton yield. These results are in agreement with findings of singh et al, (1979), Al-Rawi yet al ,(1986), Chaudhari et al, (1988), Manimaran, (1999)and Rao et al, (2001). Though number of sympodia per plant had small direct effects, their positive correlations with seed cotton yield contributed substantially and indirectly via number of bolls per plant in F2 generation of cross CNHPT-1 x RHC- 1488 . plant height and ginning per centage expressed direct effects of lower magnitude on seed cotton yield per plant, however the significant positive correlation with seed cotton yield was because of cumulative minor positive indirect effects bia rest of the characters. This suggested that for genetic improvement of cotton number of bolls per plant, average boll weight should be taken into maximum consideration followed by number of sympodia per plant and plant height.

About Author / Additional Info:
Presently working as Assistant Professor of Agril. Botany at State Level Biotechnology Centre, MPKV, Rahuri , Dist-Ahmednagar, Maharashtra State (India)