Path and principal component analysis of yield traits in oil palm fruit bunch

The relationship among 47 agronomic traits of oil palm was analyzed by using the correlation analysis， principal component analysis and path analysis. The results showed that： （1）fruit bunch had extremely significantly positive correlation with fruit weight and number， significantly positive correlation between fruit and seed characters was found， however the significantly negative correlation between fruit quality traits and water content was found. （2）Principal component analysis showed that primary agronomic traits could be divided into four principal components， including seed traits， yield traits， kernel traits and fruit quality traits factor， the cumulative contribution rate was 86.41%.（3）Path analysis found that the order of direct contribution for fruit bunch yield wase as follows： outer fruit weight > weight of fruit per fruit bunch > number of fruit per fruit bunch > weight of per outer fruit > number of outer fruit. Comprehensive analysis showed that oil palm breeding should choose varieties with large fruit and multiple fruit， such as proper fruit weight， fruit number， fruit and seed size， fruit quality traits.