The intergeneration correlation and regression for yield component characters are presented in Table II.
The F2 generation showed significant positive correlation and regression with F3 generation for plant height,
number of panicles per plant, grain density and days to 50 % flowering. The highest correlation was observed
in grain density (0.798) followed by plant height (0.681) and days to 50% flowering (0.552).This indicated the
effectiveness of selection for these characters. These results were also agreed with the mean performance of
the F2 selection and F3 progeny mean performance. However, grain yield showed non significant correlation
between F2 and F3 generation. This indicates that selection for grain yield on the basis of phenotypic
performance during early generation may not be advisable. Results of correlation between F3 and F4
generation show that all the characters showed significant correlation. The highest correlation coefficient was observed in plant height (0.945) followed by grain density (0.937) and days to 50% flowering. This indicated
the effectiveness of selection for these characters in F3 or latter generation.
Further it was also observed that, the regression coefficient for plant height, number of panicles per plant
and days to 50% flowering showed higher regression coefficient between F2 and F3 generation than between
F3 and F4 generation. But in respect of grain yield and grain density the situation is reversed, where the
regression coefficient between F3 and F4 generation were higher than between F2 and F3 generation. From
these observations, it can be said that selection for plant height, number of panicles per plant and days to 50%
flowering can be made in the early segregating generation, keeping aside such characters as grain density and
grain yield for selection in later generation.