Regression analysis was accomplished by stepwise method on
very early to early cultivar groups of ‘Golab-e Kohanz’, ‘Sharbati’,
‘Yellow Transparent’ and ‘Golab-e Sahne’ considering ripening time
as a dependent variable (Table 4). It was revealed that leaf length
was the first trait entered into the model explaining 45% of variations
related to ripening time. Consequently, rate of leaf chlorophyll
and bloom period were entered into the model as second and third