The present investigation was carried out at the Agricultural Experimental Farm
of Faculty of Agriculture Kafr EI-Sheikh, Tanta University, during 1998 and 1999
growing seasons. Twelve white and yellow maize hybrids, i.e., S.C. 10, S.C. 122, S.C.
123, S.C. 124, S.C. 125, TW.C. 310, TW.C. 320 and TW.C. 321 (white maize) as
well as S.C. 155, S.C. 159, TW.C. 351 and T.W.C. 352 (yellow maize) were
evaluated in a randomized complete blocks design (RCBD) with three replications, to
study the phenotypic correlation coefficients between grain yield/plant and some yield
components. Similar, the direct and indirect effects of these components on yield.
The obtained results could be summarized as follows: Significant positive phenotypic coefficients were observed between grain yield
per plant and all yield attributes in two growing seasons. Positive correlations were also recorded between some of the remaining traits. The results indicated that the sources of grain yield per plant variation
considered herein were responsible for 75.19% of the variation in the growing
season of 1998, 85.78% in 1999 season, while the residual effect of other
components were 24.81,.-end 14.22 for 1998 and 1999 growing seasons,
respectively. By using the path coefficients analysis, it was found that there was a high direct
effect of number of ears/plant, number of rows/ear, ear length and number of
kernels/row to increase grain yield/plant and played an important role in
selection for high grain yield/plant in field maize.