ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN TRAITS IN FISÁLIS: A TOOL FOR INDIRECT SELECTION OF SUPERIOR PLANTS

ABSTRACT Knowledge about associations between traits is fundamental for plant breeding, since indirect selection can accelerate the development of promising genotypes. This study assessed the magnitude of associations between agronomically important traits in fisális (Physalis peruviana L). The experiment was conducted in Lages, Santa Catarina, and the treatments consisted of six fisális populations. The experiment was arranged in a randomized block design, with two replications and seven plants per plot. The correlations between traits were estimated based on the Pearson correlation coefficients and partitioned into direct and indirect effects through path analysis. Fruit weight was positively correlated with number of seeds (0.874), equatorial fruit diameter (0.738) and polar fruit diameter (0.672). By path analysis, number of seeds was identified as the trait with the highest direct contribution to fruit weight. The high phenotypic correlations between the equatorial and polar fruit diameters with fruit weight were mainly due to the indirect effect via number of seeds (0.505 and 0.459). The selection for heavier fisális fruits was strongly influenced by number of seeds, i.e., this trait should be taken into account for selection