Factor analysis of yield and other traits of durum wheat under drought stress and no stress conditions

Since coefficients of correlation may not provide thorough information about the relations of different traits and given the various advantages of multivariate statistical analyses for deep understanding of data structure, factor analysis can be used. Accordingly, to evaluate the potential grain yield of durum wheat genotypes under drought stress conditions and to examine the relationship of some quantitative traits with grain yield for selecting superior genotypes, a study was carried out on 30 durum wheat genotypes originated from Iran and Azerbaijan in Agriculture Research Station of Islamic Azad University – Ardabil Branch, Ardabil, Iran in 2008. Results of analysis of variance revealed significant differences in the measured traits under stress and no stress conditions. In addition, genotypes showed significant differences in plant height, main spike length, 1000-grain weight and yield. According to factor analysis through decomposition to main components, five factors altogether explained 82.58% of variations. Results of factor analysis proved the importance of fertile tiller number, main spike grain weight, 1000-grain weight and harvest index in selecting optimum genotypes for drought conditions.