Interrelations between productive, vegetative, and fruit quality traits in Tahiti acid lime through Bayesian inference

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Although the fruit yield has a core importance in Tahiti acid lime breeding programs, other traits stand out among the quality fruit and vegetative traits as ones that still need to be improved in selection of superior genotypes. Appling efficient tools aiming selection, such as the Bayesian inference, becomes an alternative in perennial crops. This study applied Bayesian inference in the genetic evaluation of Tahiti acid lime genotypes and estimated the interrelation between vegetative, productive and fruit quality traits. Twenty-four acid lime genotypes were evaluated for number of fruits, fruit yield, canopy volume, stem diameter, soluble solids content, shell thickness, and juice yield traits. The genotypic values were estimated through Bayesian inference and models with different residual structure were tested via deviance information criterion. Pearson’s correlation and the path analysis were estimated, removing the multicollinearity effect. The Bayesian inference estimates genotypic values with high selective accuracy. The correlations obtained between traits from different groups can be useful in selection strategies for improvement of Tahiti acid lime. The Bayesian inference demonstrated to be an important tool and should be considered in perennial breeding programs.

Keywords

• Citrus latifolia Tanaka
• longitudinal data
• Markov chain Monte Carlo
• Pearson’s correlation
• direct and indirect effects