TITLE:
Heritability and Correlation among Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) Yield and Some Agronomic and Sugar Quality Traits in Ethiopia
AUTHORS:
Esayas Tena, Firew Mekbib, Amsalu Ayana
KEYWORDS:
Ethiopia, Heritability, Genetic Correlation, Genetic Advance, Sugarcane
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.7 No.10,
July
22,
2016
ABSTRACT: To assess broad sense heritability and phenotypic and genetic
correlations among sugarcane yield components, an experiment was
conducted at Wonji and Metehara Sugar Estates of Sugar Corporation of Ethiopia
during 2012/2013. High broad sense heritability (h2) was detected for stalk
diameter (0.730), single cane weight (0.672), millable cane number
(0.624), stalk height (0.624) and pol % (0.608), indicating that these traits could be selected
for easily. Expected genetic gain of the yield components was moderate to high. All traits had
low to high genetic correlations (rg = -0.005 to 0.884) with cane
yield and (rg = 0.027 to 0.999) with sugar yield. On average genetic
correlations were higher than phenotypic correlations. High Genotypic
Coefficient of Variation (GCV), broad sense heritability and expected genetic
advance were recorded for stalk diameter, single cane weight
and millable cane number. A selection strategy based on these traits could lead to
improvement in cane and sugar yield.