One of the great current challenges of agricultural research is the production of improved castor bean cultivars, with genetic stability, high quality and high yielding potential. The objective this work was to estimate genotypic, phenotypic and environmental correlations among traits of the castor bean plant to make the characterization of the accessions easy. They were evaluated in Lavras, MG, Brazil, in a randomized block design with three replicates, fifteen castor bean accessions. The traits evaluated were: plant height, stem height, number of nodes, stem diameter, final number of clusters, stand and 100-seed weight. It was observed that there was a positive phenotypic correlation of the node number and stem height, stem height and plant height, plant height and stem diameter and at last between stem diameter and 100-seed weight. There was also a positive environmental correlation among the correlations stem height and plant height, plant height and stem diameter, plant height and final stand and stem diameter and number of clusters, concluding that the estimated correlations make it possible to know the associations among the traits, giving important information to the establishment of a genetic improvement plan of castor bean from the accessions evaluated.
Ricinus communis L.; genetic divergence; variability
