HERITABILITY, AND INTRA-GENERATION AND INTER-GENERATION ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN TUBER YIELD AND ITS COMPONENTS IN POTATO (SOLANUM-TUBEROSUM L)

The relative importance of the components of tuber yield in selection in early generations of a potato-breeding programme was studied. In se edling generation the number of tubers were more important than averag e tuber weight, whereas in clonal generations the average tuber weight was more important. Correlation coefficients between number of tubers and tuber yield varied from generation to generation whereas those of average tuber weight and tuber yield were more or less constant. Unli ke the number of tubers, the average tuber weight of a genotype in a g eneration influenced its tuber yield in subsequent generations. The av erage tuber weight had higher heritability than the number of tubers a nd tuber yield.