In breeding programs, information on the correlation between characters is essential to improve the simultaneous selection of characters. However, the measurement and interpretation of the magnitude of a correlation can lead to mistakes in the selection strategy. The objective of this study was to evaluate, using path analysis, the direct and indirect components between primary production and yield of supersweet corn ear and identify the characteristics that most contribute to ear yield (basic variable). The variables used explained 94.77% of the variance in ear weight (R2). The path analysis showed that only two characters, grain volume (0.2637) and ear volume (0.2536), had a direct effect on production. It appears, therefore, that although the majority of the characters present high correlation estimates, these indirect effects were due to other characters. Thus, for both direct selection and indirect selection for such characters are effective in increasing the average weight of supersweet corn ear. In this case, the best strategy would be the simultaneous selection of characters, emphasizing the characteristics whose effects are more indirect. It should be noted that grain volume and ear volume had higher heritability than ear weight, i.e., 91.92%, 88.6% and 80.52% respectively. The high heritability estimates (91.92% and 88.6%) is an indication of possible high gains in genetic selection.
path coefficients; direct and indirect effects; correlated response
