Genetic parameter estimation for Ilex paraguariensis St. Hill. in Argentina using spatial analysis

Abstract

Spatial and non-spatial analyses were conducted to estimate genetic parameters for the traits leaf mass weight (LMW), crown height (CH), crown diameter (CD), and crown volume (CV) for ages between 21 and 27 in 10 half-sib progeny trials of Ilex paraguariensis St. Hill. The spatial model gave a better fit than the base model in 87.2% of the analysed dataset, with reductions in residual and plot variances. The narrow-sense heritability estimates ranged from low to moderate for LMW trait (0.01 to 0.43) and from low to high for crown traits (0.08 to 0.74). The additive genetic coefficient of variation for the LMW trait was over 12.4%, while for CH and CD it was below 10%. Generally, the additive genetic correlations (r̂a) between the LMW evaluations and between LMW and crown traits were greater than 0.70.