Selection of progenies and correlation of production components in sugarcane

Abstract

This study aimed to select progenies of sugarcane based on agroindustrial performance and to correlate agroindustrial characters. The experiment was carried out at the Usina São José, Igarassu, Pernambuco, Brazil, during the 2008/2009 crop year. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized block design, with five replications. The analyzed variables were: tons of cane per hectare (TCH), tons of pol per hectare (TPH), corrected pol % (CP), soluble solid content (BRIX), the total recoverable sugar (TRS), tons of recoverable sugar per hectare (TRS t ha^-1) and stalk number per meter (SNM). The variance analysis and genetic parameters estimate were performed. To correlate the characters, Pearson’s correlation coefficient and the partial correlations were used. The F test showed significance and high estimate of mean heritability for the variables TCH, TPH and TRS t ha^-1, indicating the possibility of successful selection based on those characters. The values expressed by the correlation coefficients used in this study suggest that the practice of selection based on the characters SNM and BRIX contributes indirectly and significantly to cane and sugar productivity per hectare.