The efficiency of several methods of precocious selection in half-sib progenies of taxi-branco (Sclerolobium paniculatum Vogel, Leguminosae) was estimated. Taxi-branco is a native Amazonian forest species, with broad adaptation to different ecological conditions and good quality wood for charcoal. The experiment was planted in 1989, at the Cerrado Experimental Station, Macapá, Amapá, Brazil (0° 22' N, 51°04' W, 50 m altitude) using 21 half-sib progenies arranged in a randomized complete blocks experimental design with ten replications. The plots were lines of five plants spaced 3 x 3 m. At 48 and 96 months the plants were evaluated for the following characteristics: height, diameter at breast height, and biomass production. The following methodologies were used to estimate precocious selection efficiency: fluctuation of the estimates of the genetic parameters at different ages; estimates and decomposition of the genotype x environment interaction; correlated response to selection; and selection at juvenile and adult ages. The evaluated families showed genetic variability for the three characters and the estimate of the narrow sense heritability at the family mean level was greater than 84% in both ages, indicating the potential of this population for continuity of the improvement program. All the methodologies used in the evaluation of the efficiency of precocious selection agreed in recommending that this strategy should be used in future programs of genetic improvement of taxi-branco.
forest species; quantitative genetics; genetic improvement; selection