Selection of Short-Day Strawberry Genotypes through Multivariate Analysis

Strawberries are produced in tropical regions using imported cultivars adapted to temperate and subtropical climates. These cultivars, under tropical conditions, produce below their genetic potential. Through multivariate analyses, the objective was to evaluate and select short-day strawberry genotypes based on intraspecific crosses, product characteristics, and fruit quality. The genotypes were obtained from the cross between ‘Camino Real’ (female parent) and the first-generation genotypes RVCA16, RVCS44, RVFS06, RVFS07, and RVDA11 (male parent), obtained in previous selections. The experimental design consisted of augmented blocks with standard controls, consisting of first-generation genotypes and commercial cultivars. The fruits were harvested and evaluated for productivity and post-harvest characteristics: total fruit mass (MTF), total number of fruits (TFN), average fruit mass (AFM), commercial fruit mass (CFM), fruit commercial number (CFN), average commercial mass of fruits (ACFM), total soluble solids (TSS), firmness (F), brightness (L), hue angle (°Hue), and chroma (C). The selection index of Mulamba and Mock (1978) was used with an intensity of 3% to obtain superior genotypes and submitted to multivariate analysis for comparative purposes. Of the 1500 genotypes evaluated, it was possible to select 44 genotypes with characteristics superior to the 13 controls. The RVDA11CR59 genotype showed better values for the attributes of interest, but the RVCS44CR population, from the cross between ‘Camino Real’ × RVCS44 (‘Camarosa’ × ‘Sweet Charlie’), obtained the highest number (16) of individuals among those selected. Significant traits had high heritability but were not necessarily reflected in high selection gain. Coefficients of genetic variation were high, indicating sufficient genetic variability to select genotypes for these traits. When multivariate analyses were used, it was possible to group the selected genotypes into the same cluster according to the similarity and balance in the responses to the evaluated variables, demonstrating that these analyses help other parameters choose superior genotypes. The multivariate analysis allowed the selection of more balanced genotypes for production and post-harvest traits for tropical climates.