Abstract:To reveal the evolutionary law of water-saving wheat varieties and the correlation between various traits, and provide a scientific basis for the genetic improvement of new varieties and production practice, this study took the water-saving wheat varieties approved in Hebei Province from 2015 to 2024 as experimental materials, and adopted correlation, partial correlation, and path analysis methods to explore the evolutionary law of water-saving wheat varieties and the correlation between traits. The results showed that in recent years, the watersaving wheat varieties approved in Hebei Province were mainly of the stronger drought-resistant type. Although the wheat yield increased by an average of 200.65 kg/ha per year, the coefficient of variation of yield was small,indicating limited room for further improvement. The water-saving index remained stable, while the three yield components(number of spikes, kernels per spike, and thousand-grain weight) showed an annual upward trend;meanwhile, plant height increased and growth period shortened year by year. Correlation analysis indicated that the water-saving index was extremely significantly positively correlated with plant height and extremely significantly negatively correlated with thousand-grain weight. Among the three yield components, the number of spikes and thousand-grain weight were extremely significantly correlated with yield, while the growth period was extremely significantly negatively correlated with yield. Partial correlation and path analysis showed that the number of spikes, thousand-grain weight, and plant height had a positive effect on yield, with the number of spikes having the greatest effect; kernels per spike, growth period, and water-saving index had a negative effect on yield,but the effect of kernels per spike was relatively weak. Comprehensive analysis revealed that increasing plant height would lead to a decrease in thousand-grain weight(thus affecting yield), but an increase in plant height could improve the water-saving index. Additionally, increased plant height, shortened growth period, and increased number of spikes and thousand-grain weight were beneficial to yield improvement. Therefore, maintaining appropriate plant height, stabilizing the number of spikes and thousand-grain weight, moderately increasing kernels per spike, and promoting the coordinated development of the three yield components may be the key to improving wheat yield potential in the future. Breeders can select varieties with short growth period, fast grain filling rate, good seed-setting rate, and relatively high plant height to adapt to current production needs.