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Abstract
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Breeders need to understand how traits relationship help create effective breeding programs. An investigation involving eight wheat cultivars was carried out to assess trait relationships in the climate of Dashtestan County, Bushehr province (Iran). The experiment included both irrigated and drought stress conditions during the 2023-2024 cropping season. Statistical techniques, including the Pearson correlation and factor analysis, were employed to analyze the data collected from the two contrasting growing conditions. The correlation patterns among wheat traits varied significantly between irrigated and drought stress systems. However, traits related to the yield, such as tiller number per plant, spikelet number, and grain number per spike, showed a positive correlation with the grain yield in both conditions. Under irrigated cultivation conditions, factor analysis identified four key factors influencing crop yields. These factors, presented in descending order of significance, were agronomic and yield potential, yield components, phenology, and the tiller number per plant. Based on these findings, the Chamran cultivar showed high potential for cultivation under irrigated conditions. Under drought stress conditions, factor analysis identified four main patterns that accounted for 86.3% of the variation observed in the traits. The analysis revealed four essential factors that significantly influenced the crop yield. These factors, presented in descending order of importance, were plant yield, plant structure, reproductive traits, and flag leaf length and phenology.
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