Selection of Erva-mate Progenies for Leaf Weight Productivity, Temporal Stability and Adaptability

Abstract

This paper aimed to select progenies of "erva-mate" (Ilex paraguariensis St. HiI.) in Ivai - PR based on leaf weight productivity, stability and adaptability across three harvests. This can be achieved by the method MHPRVG (harmonic average of relative performance of genetic values) which is comparable with the methods by Annichiaricco and Lin & Binns. The genetic material was constituted by 25 half sib progenies evaluated in a complete block design with ten replicates and six plants per plot, in a 3 x 2 meters spacing. Leaf weight per tree  was evaluated at ages two, four and six years  after planting. There were some changes in progenies  ranking across harvests. The methods MHPRVG, Annichiaricco and Lin & Binns led to selection of the  same progenies, considering the three attributes  simultaneously. However, the MHPRVG method presented the advantage of providing results in the  scale of the measured trait, which can be interpreted  directly as genetic values.