The objective of this paper was to discuss the relative importance of per se and topcross performance in the selection of inbred families. The analyses, considering expansion volume and yield, were based on two trials of S3 progenies from the popcorn population Beija-Flor, and six experiments with the corresponding topcross hybrids, derived from crosses with the tester Viçosa, another popcorn population. With respect to the estimates of heritabilities (assessment of the selection efficiency), predicted genetic gains, genotypic correlations and the percentages of coincidence between selected and non selected families, the equivalence with the selection procedures based on per se and topcross performance was good. The correspondence would certainly be greater if the genotypic correlations were of higher magnitude. The selection based simultaneously on the phenotypic values of progenies and hybrids tends to be satisfactory when the weights of the per se and topcross merits are proportional to the heritabilities
