Genetic Variability, Correlation among Agronomic Traits, and Genetic Progress in a Sugarcane Diversity Panel

Author(s)

Barreto, Fernanda Zatti ^[1] ; Balsalobre, Thiago Willian Almeida ^[1] ; Chapola, Roberto Giacomini ^[1] ; Garcia, Antonio Augusto Franco ^[2] ; Souza, Anete Pereira ^{[3, 4]} ; Hoffmann, Hermann Paulo ^[1] ; Gazaffi, Rodrigo ^[1] ; Carneiro, Monalisa Sampaio ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Ctr Ciencias Agr, Dept Biotecnol & Prod Vegetal & Anim, BR-13604900 Araras, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Escola Super Agr Luiz Queiroz, Dept Genet, BR-13418260 Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Estadual Campinas, Inst Biol, Dept Biol Vegetal, BR-13083862 Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[4] Univ Estadual Campinas, Ctr Biol Mol & Engn Genet, BR-13083862 Campinas, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: AGRICULTURE-BASEL; v. 11, n. 6 JUN 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

Sugarcane breeding programs require 15 years of experimentation to create more productive cultivars, and estimates of genetic progress can indicate the efficiency of breeding programs. In this study, we used a diversity panel, the Brazilian Panel of Sugarcane Genotypes (BPSG), with the following objectives: (i) to estimate, through a mixed model, the adjusted means and genetic parameters of ten traits evaluated over three harvest years; (ii) to estimate genotypic correlation among those traits; and (iii) to estimate genetic progress over six decades of breeding. The heritabilities ranged from 0.43 to 0.88, and we detected 42 significant correlations, 9 negative and 33 positive. Over six decades, the sucrose-related traits BRIX, POL%C, and POL%J showed an average increase per decade of 0.27 degrees Brix, 0.26% and 0.31%, respectively. Stalk number, height, and weight of the plot, and cane and sucrose yields revealed average increases per decade of 3.27 stalks, 0.06 m, 9.42 kg, 11.22 t/ha, and 2.08 t/ha, respectively. The genetic progress of the main agronomic traits is discussed through a historical series of sugarcane genotypes present in the BPSG. The findings of this study could contribute to the management of new breeding strategies and allow for future studies of associative mapping. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 08/57908-6 - National Institute of Science and Technology of Bioethanol
• Grantee: Marcos Silveira Buckeridge
• Support Opportunities: Program for Research on Bioenergy (BIOEN) - Thematic Grants