Effects of inbreeding on the selection of sugar cane clones

Abstract

The effects of inbreeding and of the selection of clones in families obtained through biparental, polycrossings and selfing (S1) were evaluated. The families were represented in 89 clones and evaluated at the plant cane and ratoon stages. Results show that inbreeding depression in sugar cane is expressive for the trait tons of brix per hectare (TBH), tons of stalks per hectare (TSH), length, diameter and mean stalk weight, except for brix and number of stalks. The inbreeding influence on the traits TBH and TSH showed that selfing is not indicated for clone selection for commercial purposes, due to the high genetic load in the clones evaluated for yield per hectare. On the other hand, it was possible to select some productive inbred clones, suggesting an alternative form of using S1 clones as parents in the process of reciprocal recurrent selection.