C Díaz Romero, MF Figueroa, JV Diaz, DD Henriquez, DD Costilla, C Ghio, J Racedo and S Ostengo
Estación Experimental Agroindustrial Obispo Colombres (EEAOC), Las Talitas, Tucumán, Argentina; cdiazromero@eeaoc.org.ar
Each year the Sugarcane Breeding Program of Estación Experimental Agroindustrial Obispo Colombres (SCBP-EEAOC) in Tucumán, Argentina, selects the progenitors to be used in biparental crossings. The present study aimed to analyze the parents chosen between 1998 and 2020 (23 seasons) in the SCBP-EEAOC based on their level of exploration and the number of selected individuals of their progeny in early selection stages. Indices proposed by Santchurn et al. (2023) were calculated, associated with the number of families and individuals explored based on historical means, and the selection rates at the early stages of the SCBP-EEAOC selection scheme. A total of 316 progenitors were characterized, of which 72% had enough progeny to assess their performance. Of these progenitors, 53.9% generated individuals that were selected in Stage 2 of the SCBP-EEAOC (early unreplicated selection stage) with a selection rate higher than the selection rate of the overall population. The analyzed progenitors were used in 1,460 biparental crossings, generating 70,135 individuals that reached Stage 2. Of these families, only 40% were sufficiently explored based on historical means. Among the families that were widely explored, 41.8% had a selection rate higher than the population selection rate. This retrospective analysis of 23 seasons generated information to investigate associations between phenotypic and genetic values, derived from genomic studies, of the SCBP-EEAOC progenitors, and their capability of producing progeny with high selective values.