Genetic divergence and truncation and simultaneous selection in inbred families (S) of elephant grass for bioenergetic purposes via mixed models.

The State University of North Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro (UENF) has been developing for fifteen years a breeding program that aims at the development of new cultivars of elephant grass due to its high potential and the low availability of cultivars developed by genetic breeding programs that meet the needs of producers in the State of Rio de Janeiro. In this sense, inbred families were also obtained as a way of fixing potential alleles for traits related to production, as the inbreeding process apparently does not strongly affect elephant grass in aspects related to inbreeding depression. This study aimed to estimate genetic diversity, variance components and prediction of genotypic values in 11 (S) elephant grass families, and perform the truncation and simultaneous selection of traits using the selection index, by mixed models.

Multi-trait index: selection and recommendation of superior black bean genotypes as new improved varieties.

Common bean provides diet rich in vitamins, fiber, minerals, and protein, which could contribute into food security of needy populations in many countries. Developing genotypes that associate favorable agronomic and grain quality traits in the common bean crop could increase the chances of adopting new cultivars black bean. In this context, the present study aimed at selection of superior black bean lines using multi-variate indexes, Smith-Hazel-index, and genotype by yield*trait biplot analysis.

Categories of variables in analysis of genetic diversity in S progenies of Psidium guajava.

Crossing and developing inbred lines have been promising options for guava breeding programs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the genetic divergence among genotypes of S inbred guava families by means of the Gower's technique and the Ward-MLM methodology, to verify the correlation and relative contribution of traits, as well as to identify descriptors with minimum efficiency for this species. The experiment was implemented at the Estação Experimental da Ilha Barra do Pomba, in the municipality of Itaocara, RJ, Brazil.

Supporting Physiological Trait for Indirect Selection for Grain Yield in Drought-Stressed Popcorn.

The identification of traits associated with drought tolerance in popcorn is a contribution to support selection of superior plants under soil water deficit. The objective of this study was to choose morphological traits and the leaf greenness index, measured on different dates, to estimate grain yield (GY) and popping expansion (PE), evaluated in a set of 20 popcorn lines with different genealogies, estimated by multiple regression models. The variables were divided into three groups: morpho-agronomic traits-100-grain weight (GW), prolificacy (PR), tassel length (TL), number of tassel branches, anthesis-silking interval, leaf angle (FA) and leaf rolling (FB); variables related to the intensity of leaf greenness during the grain-filling period, at the leaf level, measured by a portable chlorophyll meter (SPAD) and at the canopy level, calculated as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI).