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Studies on character association in potatoes
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 March 2009
Summary
The phenotypic, genotypic and environmental correlation coefficients were calculated for 13 morphological and tuber quality characters, 17 of 78 possible combinations were found to be significant. Tuber yield was positively associated with average tuber weight and with total tuber dry matter per plant. Average tuber weight was negatively associated with number of tubers per plant and with most of the quality characters. The indices for selection for tuber yield were computed using the yield components and yield only. It was observed that the selections based on tuber yield itself are likely to be superior to those based on yield components. However, an index involving the yield components and the yield was found to be most efficient.
Among the tuber quality characters, percentage tuber dry matter showed significant positive association with the percentage alcohol-insoluble solids (AIS) and with the percentage of starch in fresh tubers, and a negative association with the percentage of protein in tuber dry matter. The associations between percentage of starch in fresh tubers and the percentage of starch in tuber dry matter, between percentage of starch in AIS and the percentage of starch in tuber dry matter and between percentage of protein in fresh tubers and the percentage of protein in tuber dry matter were also found to be significant and positive.
To increase tuber yield it is necessary to break the negative linkage between its two components. High total tuber dry matter per plant can be brought about by selecting for high tuber yield. For the improvement of tuber quality together with tuber yield, the selection for yield based on a large number of tubers is likely to be useful.
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- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978
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