Factor analysis of agro-morphological characters in durum wheat (Triticum durumDesf.) lines

ABSTRACT: In order to study and classify agro-morphological characters in lines of durum wheat, 36 lines were evaluated. The field experiments were carried out in 2008-2009 on the Research Station located at Shirvan Chardavol, Ilam. Grain filling period, plant height, number of grains per spike, number of spikelet per spike, number of spike and 1000-grain weightcorrelated significant and positively with yield. Factor analysis based on principal component analysis method and varimax rotation indicated that five important factors accounted for about 83.63 percent of the total variation among characters. The first factor assigned 35.13 percent of total variation between characters and was significantly related with yield. Therefore, this factor was regarded as yield and yield component factor. With respect to the achieved results, we can use characters such as, peduncle length, number of grains per spike, number of spikelet per spike, 1000-grain weight, grain filling period, harvest index and biological yield characters as selected suitable criteria in the wheat breeding programs and production of productive varieties.