Evaluation of the relationships between the main morpho-biological characteristics of introduced daikon varieties

Relevance. The introduction of new promising vegetable crops is of great importance for expanding the range and replenishing the population's diet with ecologically clean products. Daikon occupies a special place among vegetable crops. To date, the issues of introducing daikon samples have not been sufficiently studied. Therefore, the study of the relationships between the main morpho-biological characteristics of introduced varieties of daikon in the north-eastern part of Belarus and their use in breeding work is relevant. The aim of the study. To study the relationships between introduced varieties of daikon according to the main morpho-biological characteristics in the north-eastern part of Belarus). Methodology. The research was conducted on the experimental field of the Department of Fruit and Vegetable Growing of the Belarusian State Agricultural Academy in 2022–2024 on sod-podzolic medium loamy soil. The experiments were laid out in compliance with agrotechnical requirements for plant care throughout the entire observation period). Results. When creating new varieties, special attention is paid to the relationship of characters, for the identification of which statistical methods are used, in particular, the method of correlation analysis. The analysis and use of relationships contribute to the identification of valuable source material at different stages of ontogenesis and its preliminary selection for targeted selection based on the assessment of associated selection-significant traits. As a result of research into introduced daikon varieties in 2022–2024, a comparative assessment was made of the main morpho-biological characteristics: number of leaves, length of leaf and root crop, diameter and weight of root crop, yield. Correlations between them were identified, which made it possible to identify promising varieties that contribute to accelerating the selection process in the search for source material). Conclusion. As a result of the correlation analysis, on average for 2022–2024, a strong positive relationship was established between the characteristics “root crop weight” and “yield” (r=0,974), weak relationship between leaf number and root length (r=0,458), average between the length of the root crop and its weight (r=0,584) and productivity (r=0,641). The main economically valuable traits that influence the yield of daikon plants are the weight and length of the root crop.