THE PERFORMANCE OF FAMILIES IN BREEDING FOR QUALITY TRAITS IN SUGARCANE

摘要

The research aimed to evaluate family performance in breeding for several cane quality attributes. Experimental materials consisted of 10 hybrid biparental families representing the type of breeding materials used in the commercial breeding program. Each family was composed of 32 progeny taken at random from original seedling populations, planted in a replicated design as in Stage III, and assessed for cane yield indicators and several quality traits. Results obtained indicate that families significantly differ in their expressions for all the traits investigated. Family heritabilities were moderately high to high for all quality traits, suggesting the feasibility of efficient family selection. In most of the quality traits, with the exception of reducing sugars, interactions between families and stage of maturity were not significant. Strong significant correlations were detected between pol % and reducing sugars (negative) and pol % and fibre (positive). Ash/brix showed a consistent negative correlation with fibre.