Comparison between three procedures for plant selection in Lotus spp

Abstract

A population of two hundred plants of Lotus corniculatus L. and two hundred of Lotus uliginosus Schkuhr., was observed in Guaíba (EEA-UFRGS), Brazil, with the objetive of plant selection for a future progeny test, and to compare three procedures of plant selection. They were estimated by the mean growth rate in height, diameter and perimeter, dry matter production, seed production and flowering initiation. The stratified mass selection method was used. The first procedure used was the empiric choice of plante based in the data. The second procedure used selection index. The third procedure was by selection index too, but a balance of the data was achieved using the principal components of variance of the mean growth rates and dry matter production, then the index was computed. The results showed that the three procedures were very similar, but the second and the third procedures allowed a better discrimination of very similar plants