Factor analysis for grain yield and other traits in durum wheat

Durum wheat is one of the most important cereal crops of the world which is cultivated in the semi-arid parts of the world. Durum wheat has made up 10% of the world wheat cultivation and has shown a more desirable adaptability to the semi-arid climatic conditions compared with bread wheat. One of the successful factors in breeding programs is the knowledge of treat inheritability through determining the type of inbreeding approach and the feasibility of evaluation in different generations. To do so, 17 developed lines of Durum wheat in Randomized Complete block design in 2 & 4 replications during two consecutive years were cultivated and evaluated on the farm of Seed and Plant Improvement Institute in Karaj. To find out about the internal relationships of traits and to determine the group of variables with the highest correlation, factor analysis with the use of principle components and varimax method was used. As a result, forth independent factors were responsible for the changes. Also factor analysis showed grain yield, biological yield and morphological yield were important for selection appropriate genotypes.