Inter-trait relations for direct and indirect selection in coffee

The purpose of this study was to verify the possibility of using direct selection in nine traits underlying indirectselection for yield and determine which traits should participate in the selection process. Data of 40 Conilon coffee genotypeswere analyzed in two experiments in the growing seasons of 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 in random blocks with four andsix replications. The significance of phenotypic associations was evaluated by the t test and the genotypic and environmentalassociations by bootstrap resampling. The genotypic associations were higher than the phenotypic, indicating a prevailinginfluence of the genotypic over the environmental effects in the relationship between significant traits; equal signs indicated alack of contrary action among the effects. The traits related to cycle; yield; ratio of fresh ripe cherries to clean coffee; emptyor flat grains; and sieve 17 should be maintained in the selection, evaluation and study of genetic divergence. The estimatedgains in grain yield by indirect selection for any trait studied are not satisfactory