The selection of plants for traits governed for more than a gene is, a lot of times, a difficult task of being driven. In this sense, the use of correlated traits can favor in the best individuals' identification, so that these are selected. Though, the presence of the phenotypic correlation "per se" does not guarantee to the breeder a causal existence of genetic correlation betseen two traits. Like this, the present work was proposed with the objective of determining the existent relationship among six agronomic traits and of quality of the grain, through the estimate of the phenotypic correlation, genetics and of environment. The experiment was driven in the year of 2000 in the Federal University of Pelotas - UFPel - Brazil. The studies of correlations involved the traits caryopse percentage, medium weight of the grain, grain/panicle number, panicle weight, vegetative cycle and height of plants in two crossings of white oats, OR 2 × UPF 7 and UPF 7 ×CTC 5. The coefficients of the phenotypic correlation presented a high significance; such fact determined by the high number of degrees of freedom, due to the great number of plants. The largest values of the phenotypic correlation were observed between the traits panicle weight and the grain/panicle number with similar values of 0,93 and 0,94 for the crossings OR 2 × UPF 7 and UPF 7 × CTC 5, respectively. However, the values of the environment correlation considering these same traits was the largest among all of the traits. On the other hand, coefficients of genetic correlation, evidenced low values, the one that allows affirm to that the use of correlated traits didn't supply reliable subsidies to the indirect selection.
phenotipic correlation; genetic correlation; environment correlation
