GENETIC CORRELATIONS BETWEEN FLOWERING PROPENSITY AND CANE YIELD AND CCS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR SUGARCANE BREEDING PROGRAMS

FLOWERING HAS BEEN selected against in some breeding programs because of perceived negative impacts on yield and commercial value. However, there are few if any reports on genetic correlations between flowering and cane yield or sugar content that could be used to help quantitatively determine optimal weightings to apply in relation to flowering propensity during the selection process in sugarcane breeding programs. Data from a set of relatively unselected clones, representing genotypes routinely generated in the Australian commercial breeding program were examined. Overall, the level of flowering varied across environments but flowering propensity of genotypes was generally repeatable. Genetic correlations between flowering and cane yield and CCS were mostly low in all environments, indicating that this trait did not strongly affect relative yield or CCS relative to other factors. Data from parents used in the commercial breeding program were also examined. This also showed a near zero correlation between breeding value for economic value and flowering propensity. Overall, the results suggest that flowering propensity should not be weighted heavily, if at all, during selection.