GENETIC PARAMETERS AND DIVERSITY, AND CORRELATIONS IN ONION STRAINS

ABSTRACT Plant breeding programs have been investing in the development of high commercial standard onions; thus, they depend on the genetic resources available for obtaining commercial hybrids. The objective of this study was to evaluate genetic parameters and diversity, and phenotypic and genotypic correlations of characters related to onion production. The experiment was conducted in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Fifty-three onion strains were evaluated, and a randomized block design was used. The number of plant and bulb characteristics evaluated was 13. The statistical analyses were performed using Genes and R software. A genetic variability among the genotypes was found for most of the characters at 1% level of significance in the F test. The heritability of most characters presented moderate to high values (≥ 70%) and high CVg/CVe ratio (≥ 1). The UPGMA method separated the genotypes into 20 groups, while the Tocher method separated them into 19 groups. The groups that stood out were V, XIV, XV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, and XX. The results of t-test showed six significant phenotypic correlations with low to moderate degree of association, and the genotypic correlations, in most cases, were higher than the phenotypic ones and showed the same sign. From the genetic parameters studied, the possibility of gains in the selection is high. The separation of groups of divergent genitors was possible due to the wide genetic variability for the studied characters. Moreover, the phenotypic and genotypic correlations showed that indirect selection is not feasible. RESUMO Os programas de melhoramento vegetal têm investido no desenvolvimento de cebolas com alto padrão comercial e para tal dependem dos recursos genéticos disponíveis para a obtenção de híbridos comerciais. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar parâmetros genéticos, diversidade genética e as correlações fenotípicas e genotípicas de caracteres relacionados à produção de cebola. O experimento foi realizado em Uberlândia - Minas Gerais, Brasil. Foram avaliadas 53 linhagens de cebola. Foi utilizado o delineamento em blocos ao acaso. Foram avaliadas 13 características de planta e bulbo. As análises estatísticas foram realizadas no programa Genes e R. Observou-se a existência de variabilidade genética entre os genótipos para a maioria dos caracteres ao nível de 1% pelo teste F. A herdabilidade da maioria dos caracteres apresentou valores moderados a altos (≥ 70%) e relação CVg/CVe alta (≥1). O método