Multicharacteristic Selection of Purple-Flesh Sweetpotato Genotypes with High Productivity and Anthocyanin Content

The development of improved, better-adapted purple-fleshed sweetpotato genotypes can enhance public health, diversify market opportunities, and increase incomes for Brazilian farmers while making biofortified foods more accessible and strengthening food security. Breeding programs should simultaneously target yield and quality traits to secure acceptance from both producers and consumers. This study aimed to identify promising purple-fleshed sweetpotato genotypes by evaluating multiple traits: root yield, postharvest quality, and anthocyanin content. We carried out two field trials, with predicted genetic gains of 127% for the number of marketable roots and 90.6% for total root yield in the first stage, and 13.1% for total yield, 14.5% for marketable yield, and 9.4% for dry matter of marketable roots in the second stage. Beginning with 1048 experimental genotypes, we preselected 21 promising lines. In the first trial (augmented block design), we chose 28 high-yielding genotypes. In the second trial, 12 genotypes from the breeding program were tested using an alpha-lattice design, with the cultivar SCS370 Luiza serving as a control in both experiments. We assessed traits including propagation potential, total root number, total and marketable yield, number of marketable roots, average mass and dry matter of marketable roots, resistance to insect damage, external appearance, pulp color, root spatial distribution in the soil, average root diameter, number of perforations, soluble solids, and anthocyanin content. Genotype selection was guided by the multi-trait genotype–ideotype distance index. In the final selection, 21 genotypes stood out as highly promising: U1-46, U1-145, U2-08, FA-08, U2-100, F06-32, B-77, U2-D, U2-47, FA-143, U1-123, U1-113, U2-49, F06-25, F06-199, FA-120, U1-55, LP-75, U2-74, F06-57, and U1-47, combining a mean total root yield of 27.392 t ha−1 and anthocyanin levels between 0.174 and 0.804 mg 100 g−1. These genotypes constitute promising candidates for incorporation into breeding pipelines targeting markets for purple-fleshed sweetpotato, with favorable implications for both producer income and nutritional outcomes.