Character Association and Path Coefficient Analysis of Morphological Quantitative Traits in Ethiopian Kale (Brassica Carinata A.)

The present study was conducted at Debre zeit Agricultural Research Center to determine the extent of association among yield and its related traits of 49 accessions and to assess the direct and indirect effects of yield component traits on leaf yield of Ethiopian Kale. The accession were studied for fourteen quantitative traits using 7 × 7 simple lattice design in 2018 cropping season. The accessions were collected from diverse agro ecological area. The research findings indicated that leaf yield per plant exhibited positive and significant phenotypic and genotypic association with all factors except for leaf width and leaf petiole thickness. The result revealed that days to first leaf picking, leaf fresh weight per plant, leaf dry matter content and number of leaves per plant were the most important yield components as they exerted positive direct effect on leaf yield as well as positive genotypic and phenotypic association with each other explaining the existence of significant association. This highlighting their importance in improving Ethiopian kale yield.