VARIATION FOR MAIN QUANTITATIVE TRAITS IN THE SEEDLING AND VEGETATIVE CYCLES OF THE EMBRAPA PINEAPPLE HYBRIDIZATION PROGRAM

Data from the EMBRAPA breeding program, involving 425 seedlings from progenies of 15 crosses and 108 clones established from selected seedlings, were submitted to univariate and multivariate analysis, including correlation and principal components analysis of quantitative traits, comparisons and correlations between the seedling cycle and the following vegetative cycles. All traits showed a continuous, unimodal distribution, except for the number of slips that followed a bimodal one, with peaks for zero and five slips. Plants with no slips were only found in the families involving cultivars with the same characteristic. These two observations indicate that a single gene plays a major role in the production of a limited number of slips. The 17 progenies differed significantly for the other traits, except for total soluble solid content (TSS) and sucker production. Differences in segregation for the reciprocal crosses involving ‘Smooth Cayenne’ and ‘Primavera’ showed a maternal effect on peduncle length, crown size, fruit acidity, and sucker production. No significant differences were observed between seedlings and the clones derived from them through traditional vegetative multiplication, except for sucker production, which was much higher in the seedlings. Fruit size in the seedling stage, which is the variable with major contribution to total variation, is not significantly correlated with fruit size in the following vegetative cycles. Fruit shape, TSS, number of slips, and peduncle length, are much better criteria for the selection of seedlings. The correlation values between fruit size on the one hand and crown size, fruit axis diameter, and TSS on the other hand are low, so they should pose no problems in the selection of superior recombinants.