Path analysis for agronomic traits and yield of salt tolerant rice cultivars under moderate salinity condition in Central Vietnam

This study was done with the aims to determine: (i) the correlation between agronomic traits and yield and (ii) the direct and indirect effects of agronomic traits on salt-tolerant rice yield. The field experiment was conducted directly on moderate salinity level of EC= 6.35 dS m-1 during the 2017 winter-spring cropping season in Central Vietnam. Ten salt-tolerant rice cultivars were studied. Results showed that yields of salt-tolerant rice cultivars had a positive correlation with traits of plant height, panicles per plant, panicle weight, and dry biomass, r = 0.3624*, 0.7019***, 0.4530** and 0.7837***, respectively. Total panicles per plant, panicle weight, and the number of grains per panicle directly affected rice yield with coefficients of dC = 0.5524, 0.8294 and 0.4355, respectively. Therefore, these traits should be used as good indicator traits for selecting salt-tolerant rice cultivars for the moderate salinity soil in Central Vietnam.