Since development of commercial varieties involves simultaneous selection for various traits, previous knowledge of their interrelationships may also be fundamental to the breeder as the strategies to be adopted. The objective of this research was to estimate phenotypic, additive genetic and environmental correlations for a number of traits of agronomic interest in carrot (Daucus carota L.) cultivar Campinas, grown during the fall-winter and spring-summer seasons at the Experiment Station of Monte Alegre do Sul, Instituto Agronômico de Campinas (IAC), State of São Paulo, Brazil. This germplasm, originated from the "Seção de Hortaliças" (IAC), presents, besides a high level of resistance to Alternaria dauci, a large variation for root shape and a tendency to early bolting, stimulated by low temperatures and/or long photoperiods during the crop vegetative stage. Data were obtained by evaluating 102 half-sib progenies on a randomized block design experiment with four and three replications, respectively, for the fall-winter and spring-summer planting dates. Phenotypic (rF), additive genetic (rA) and environmental (rE) correlations were estimated by covariance analyses between pairs of characters, in both planting dates. The phenotypic and additive genetic correlations were negative only for pairs of characters involving percentage of early flowering (EF) or percentage of defective roots, while the correlations were high (>0.5) for most of the pairs of characters in both planting dates. Selection for percentage of cylindric marketable roots will lead to reduction in EF as well as increases in marketable root yield and total root yield in both planting. This research further presents a discussion of the relative participation of environmental and genetic effects in the phenotypic correlation.
carrot; Daucus carota L.; correlations; selection