One of the main barriers for cassava genetic breeding is the difficulty for early selection of superior individuals within the first breeding generations. Therefore, the aim of the present work was to estimate the phenotypic correlations among agronomic characters in a segregating population of sweet cassava, within the vegetative and sexual generation, and between two, in order to obtain phenotypic indicators that increase the efficiency of selection of superior genotypes in segregating populations. The segregating population from the cross IAC 576-70 and BRS Japonesa was used to estimate the phenotypic correlation among seven agronomic traits evaluated individually within the sexual and clonal propagation populations and between the two populations. No trait within the generation of sexual propagation had high correlation with the root yield in the generation of clonal propagation. This weak association among the traits within the seed-propagated generation and their production potential, during clonal propagation, revealed the difficulty to accurately and early predict the production potential of a genotype using phenotypic evaluations, especially when evaluating it from seeds. Nevertheless, the high correlation between the cooking time in the seed-propagated generation with the generation of clonal propagation is a parameter to be considered for the early selection of clones with shorter cooking time.
Manihot esculenta Crantz; plant breeding; sweet cassava; early selection
