Estimation of genetic parameters and prediction of gains for DFT1-Ribeirão popcorn population
Ronaldo Rodrigues Coimbra; Glauco Vieira Miranda; José Marcelo Soriano Viana; Cosme Damião Cruz; Devanir Mitsuyuki Murakami; Leandro Vagno de Souza and Rodrigo Ribeiro Fidelis
In order to evaluate the potential for improvement of DFT1- Ribeirão popcorn populations by estimating the genetic parameters and prediction of gains with selection among half-sib families, 121 half-sib families extracted from that population were evaluated . The lattice was used with two replications. Elevated grain yield and acceptable popping expansion (PE) were observed. Additive genetic variance was significant for most of the evaluated characters, including productivity and PE. The narrow sense heritabilities were 67.84% (grain yield ) and 60.97% (PE). The DFT–Ribeirão population produced 4918.0 kg/ha and 20 mL/g PE, which can be reduced to 4724.0 kg/ha and PE 23 mL/g in the next cycle. Ten families were selected based on PE and proportion of lodge plants (PLP). A 35% decrease in PLP, 9.58% gain in PE and 2.67% decrease in grain yield are expected in the base population. It may be concluded that DFT1–Ribeirão population shows additive genetic variability of the principal characters and adequate mean grain yield; popping expansion limitations and lodge plant and ear disease percentages. In the next cycle, the population will show a reduced lodge percentage, and increased PE, maintaining the same grain yield, thus having a potential to be used in popcorn breeding programs.