Progenies evaluation in RB families in the initial stage of genetic improvement in sugarcane

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate families of full-sib series RB07 in the initial selection stage (T2) in plant cane. The experimental works were conducted during the 2008/2009 agricultural year, in plant cane, at the agricultural area of São José Sugar Mill, Pernambuco, Brazil. The experimental design was made in randomized blocks with four replications, using ten families. Results showed that the presence of genetic variability derived from crosses of full-sibs in sugarcane allows the selection of the best families for production of stems per plant and brix in cane. The families FA-4 and FA-6 obtained from the cross-breedings RB92606 x RB92579 and RB855035 x RB855595, respectively, presented with twelve months of age cane higher brix
values with tendency to early maturity. The evaluation in the juvenile stage cannot identify significant differences between cane sugar characters aiming at family selection.