Interrelationships among stabilities of important agronomic traits in sugarcane

Summary

The stability-variance statistic, ĝs ²_i , measures the contribution of the i^th genotype to genotype x environment interaction. In addition to the knowledge of cultivar stability for an agronomic trait, information on whether stability of one trait can be used to predict stability of another should be useful to breeders. Three separate groups of data, respectively involving CP 79 series, CP 80 series, and CP 81 series experimental clones of sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) were used in this study. Rank-correlation coefficients (r_s) between ranks of genotypes for ĝs ²_i 's for paired traits indicated in both plant-cane and ratoon crops that stability of tons per hectare of sugar can be predicted from the stability of tons per hectare of cane (THC) and also, to a lesser extent, from the stability of stalk number. The stability of THC also can be reasonably well predicted from the stability of stalk number. Brix stability may give some indication of the stabilities for percentage sucrose and sugar concentration (SC). The ĝs ²_i 's for percentage sucrose and SC were almost identical in the CP 79 and CP 81 series (r_s varied from 0.93, P<0.01, in plant-cane crop for CP 79 series to 0.98, P<0.01, in plant-cane crop for CP 81 series). Whether correlations were based on ĝs ²_i 's estimated across locations within crops or across crops, the magnitude of r_s was about the same. Means of various traits were not correlated with their respective ĝs ²_i 's (for CP 81 series), indicating that identification and selection of high-yielding sugarcane genotypes with a relatively high degree of stability of performance across test environments should be possible.