Three early growth attributes, namely, germination, tillering and early vigour, were studied in relation to stalk and sugar yield and their components, in Saccharum officinarum population comprising 94 genotypes. Germination and tillering influenced final stalk population to a considerable extent. However, these two characters did not show any significant relationship with any other yield component. Early vigour was strongly correlated with stalk and sugar yield and all their components, and could be of use as an effective early selection criterion.
Early attributes, heritability, correlation, correlated responses
