ABSTRACT. Use of multivariate statistical algorithms is considered an important strategy to quantify genetic similarity. Local varieties and traditional (heirloom) seeds of genotypes are key sources of genetic variation. The Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense (UENF), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has a tomato gene bank with accessions that have been maintained for more than 40 years. We compared various algorithms to estimate genetic distances and quantify the genetic divergence of 40 tomato accessions of this collection, based on separate and joint analyses of discrete and continuous variables. Differences in continuous variables and discrete and joint analyses were calculated based on the Mahalanobis, Cole Rodgers and Gower distances. Although opinions differ regarding the validity of joint analysis of discrete and continuous data, we found that analyzing a larger number of variables together is viable and can help in the discrimination of accessions; the information that is generated is relevant and promising for both, the accessions conservation and the use of genetic resources in breeding programs.

ABSTRACT. Using only one type of marker to quantify genetic diversity generates results that have been questioned in terms of reliability, when compared to the combined use of different markers. To compare the efficiency of the use of single versus multiple markers, we quantified genetic diversity among 10 S 7 inbred popcorn lines using both RAPD and SSR markers, and we evaluated how well these two types of markers discriminated the popcorn genotypes. These popcorn genotypes: "Yellow Pearl Popcorn" (P1-1 and P1-5), "Zélia" (P1-2 and P1-4), "Curagua" (P1-3), "IAC 112" (P9-1 and P9-2), "Avati Pichinga" (P9-3 and P9-5), and "Pisankalla" (P9-4) have different soil and climate adaptations. Using RAPD marker analysis, each primer yielded bands of variable intensities that were easily detected, as well as non-specific bands, which were discarded from the analysis. The nine primers used yielded 126 bands, of which 104 were classified as polymorphic, giving an average of 11.6 polymorphisms per primer. Using SSR procedures, the number of alleles per locus ranged from two to five, giving a total of 47 alleles for the 14 SSR loci. When comparing the groups formed using SSR and RAPD markers, there were similarities in the combinations of genotypes from the same genealogy. Correlation between genetic distances obtained through RAPD and SSR markers was relatively high (0.5453), indicating that both techniques are efficient for evaluating genetic diversity in the genotypes of popcorn that we evaluated, though RAPDs yielded more polymorphisms.

Resumo -Com o intento de selecionar progênies superiores para a efetiva concentração de alelos favoráveis em uma população de quinto ciclo de seleção recorrente intrapopulacional em famílias de irmãos-completos de milho pipoca, avaliaram-se 200 famílias quanto a seis características agronômicas, incluindo rendimento de grãos e capacidade de expansão, em delineamento aleatorizado em blocos com duas repetições dentro de 'sets' em dois ambientes distintos: Colégio Estadual Agrícola Antônio Sarlo, em Campos dos Goytacazes, e Estação Experimental da PESAGRO-RIO, em Itaocara, Rio de Janeiro, em 2007/2008. Houve diferenças significativas para famílias/"sets" para todas as características, indicando a presença de variabilidade genética a ser explorada nos futuros ciclos. Na seleção das progênies superiores o índice de Mulamba e Mock resultou em ganhos proporcionais mais adequados para capacidade de expansão e rendimento de grãos, com valores respectivos de 6,01 e 8,53%, na utilização de pesos econômicos arbitrários. Palavras-chave -Milho pipoca. Seleção de plantas. Melhoramento genético.Abstract -Aiming to select superior progenies for concentration of favorable alleles in a popcorn population on the fifth cycle of intrapopulation full-sib recurrent selection, two hundred progenies were evaluated for six agronomic traits, including grain yield and popping expansion, in randomized complete block design with two replications within sets, in two distinct environments: Colégio Estadual Agrícola Antônio Sarlo, in Campos dos Goytacazes, and Experimental Station of PESAGRO-RIO, located in Itaocara, Rio de Janeiro State, in 2007/2008. There were significant differences among families within sets in all traits, indicating the presence of genetic variability to be exploited in the future cycles. The utilized selection indexes were the Mulamba and Mock; and Smith and Hazel. The Mulamba and Mock index propitiated more elevated magnitudes of the predicted gains for most of the traits, including popping expansion and grain yield, with values of 6.01 and 8.53%, respectively, utilizing arbitrary weight attributed by tentative.

Popcorn breeding programs in Brazil have emerged but despite some advances there is still a lack of material performance studies specially regard to seed quality, in different agricultural seasons. This research was carried out to estimate the popcorn combining ability from biparental crosses between eight tropical and one temperate lines in two agricultural seasons (2008 and 2009) with regard to eight traits related to seed quality, in addition to three agronomic traits related to popping expansion. Method 4, proposed by Griffing (Model 1), was used to verifying the importance of the dominance effect in the genetic control of the seed quality traits, favouring the identification of superior hybrids through seed tests in the laboratory with low cost. The lines from Zélia and CMS42 were promising in obtaining hybrids with superior seed quality and greater popping expansion. The hybrids Zélia 9 IAC-112, CMS42 9 UEM M2-1, CMS43-1 9 IAC-112 and UEM M2-2 9 Zaeli expressed superior SCA for grain yield, popping expansion and at least two seed quality traits. These hybrids are materials of interest for cultivation in different planting seasons.

ABSTRACT. As part of the Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense recurrent selection program of popcorn, we evaluated full-sib families of the sixth cycle of recurrent selection and estimated genetic progress for grain yield and expansion capacity. We assessed 200 full-sib families for 10 agronomic traits, in a randomized block design, with two replications within sets in two environments: Campos dos Goytacazes and Itaocara, in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There were significant differences for families/"sets" for all traits, indicating genetic variability that could be exploited in future cycles. In the selection of superior progenies, the Mulamba and Mock index gave the best gains for popping expansion (PE) and grain yield (GY), with values of 10.97 and 15.30%, respectively, using random economic weights. By comparing the evolution of the means obtained for PE and GY in the cycles C 0 , C 1 , C 2 , C 3 , C 4 , C 5 , and predicted for C 6 , a steady increase was observed for both PE and GY, with the addition of 1.71 mL/g (R 2 = 0.93) and 192.87 kg/ha (R 2 = 0.88), respectively, in each cycle. Given the good performance of this popcorn population in successive cycles of intrapopulation recurrent selection,

-The present work aimed at evaluating the divergence among common bean accessions by their agronomic, morphological and molecular traits, based on the Ward-MLM procedure. A collection of 57 accessions from the gene bank of Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo was used in this study, from which: 31 were landraces belonging to the community Fortaleza, in the municipality of Muqui, ES, Brazil; 20 accessions were provided by Embrapa Trigo; and 6 were commercial cultivars. Five agronomic traits (plant cycle, number of seeds per pod, number of pods per plant, weight of 100 seeds, and grain yield), five morphological traits (growth habit, plant size, seed shape, seed color, and commercial group) and 16 microsatellite primers were evaluated. High genetic variability was detected considering morphological, agronomic and molecular traits in the 57 common bean accessions studied. The Ward-MLM procedure showed that the ideal number of groups was five, according to the pseudo F and pseudo t 2 criteria. The accessions from Andean origin had heavier seeds than others and formed a cluster. The Ward-MLM statistical procedure is a useful technique to detect genetic divergence and to cluster genotypes by simultaneously using morphological, agronomic and molecular data.Index terms: Phaseolus vulgaris, genetic diversity, germplasm characterization, joint analysis, molecular markers, morphological markers. Quantificação da diversidade entre acessos de feijoeiro-comum com uso da estratégia Ward-MLMResumo -O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a divergência de acessos de feijoeiro-comum por suas características agronômicas, morfológicas e moleculares, com base no procedimento Ward-MLM. Uma coleção de 57 acessos do banco de germoplasma da Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo foi utilizada neste estudo, dos quais: 31 acessos locais, pertencentes à comunidade Fortaleza, no Município de Muqui, ES; 20 acessos fornecidos pela Embrapa Trigo; e 6 cultivares comerciais. Foram avaliados cinco caracteres agronômicos (ciclo da planta, número de sementes por vagem, número de vagens por planta, peso de 100 grãos e produtividade de grãos), cinco caracteres morfológicos (hábito de crescimento, porte da planta, formato da semente, cor da semente e grupo comercial) e 16 iniciadores microssatélites. Detectou-se ampla variabilidade genética pelos dados morfológicos, agronômicos e moleculares nos 57 acessos de feijão. O procedimento Ward-MLM mostrou que cinco foi o número ideal de grupos, de acordo com os critérios do pseudo F e pseudo t 2 . Os acessos de origem andina tiveram sementes mais pesadas do que os outros e ficaram em um mesmo grupo. O procedimento Ward-MLM é uma técnica útil para detectar divergência genética e agrupar genótipos pelo uso simultâneo de descritores morfológicos, agronômicos e moleculares.

ABSTRACT. Although strawberry crops have a strong socio-economic impact on the agricultural sector of Espírito Santo State, there are few studies on the performance of strawberry cultivars in different locations and years under a low tunnel management system (LT). Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the parameters of adaptability and stability of strawberry cultivars under LT-protected cultivation using the harmonic mean of the relative performance of genetically predicted values. Seven strawberry cultivars were assessed ('Dover', 'Camino Real', 'Ventana', 'Camarosa', 'Seascape', 'Diamante' and 'Aromas') in the agricultural years 2006/7, 2007/8 and 2008/9 in three locations in the mountainous region of Espírito Santo State. The experiment was arranged in a randomized block design, with 3 replications and 15 plants per plot. The analysis of deviance for the yield (ton. ha -1 ) demonstrated that only the effects of genotype and the triple interaction genotype x location x year were significant, which indicates the presence of genetic variability among the cultivars and the inconsistency of the position among the genotypes for combinations of year and location. Considering the selection for yield, adaptability and stability, in LT-protected cultivation, cultivars Camarosa and Aromas are highlighted for expressing average values that were 22% higher than the overall mean of the cultivars (24.55 ton. há -1 ) in the environments assessed. Adaptabilidade e estabilidade de cultivares de morango via modelos mistos RESUMO. A cultura do morangueiro vem exercendo um importante papel sócio-econômico no setor agrícola do Estado do Espírito Santo, devido principalmente ao aumento de renda nas pequenas propriedades e na fixação de trabalhadores na área rural. Contudo, são escassos os estudos sobre o desempenho de cultivares de morango em diferentes locais e anos sob o sistema de manejo túnel baixo (TB). Portanto, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a produtividade, adaptabilidade e estabilidade de cultivares de morango sob cultivo protegido TB, utilizando o método da média harmônica da performance relativa dos valores genéticos preditos. Foram avaliados sete cultivares de morango ('Dover', 'Camino Real', 'Ventana', 'Camarosa', 'Seascape', 'Diamante' e 'Aromas') nos anos agrícolas 2006/7, 2007/8 e 2008/9, em três locais da região Serrana do Estado do Espírito Santo. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi de blocos ao acaso com três repetições e 15 plantas por parcela. Pela análise de deviance em relação à produtividade (t ha -1 ), apenas os efeitos de genótipos e da interação tripla genótipos x locais x anos foram significativas, evidenciando a presença de variabilidade genética entre as cultivares e a inconsistência da posição entre os genótipos para as combinações de anos e locais. Considerando s seleção para produtividade, adaptabilidade e estabilidade as duas cultivares que se destacaram foram 'Camarosa' e 'Aromas', tendo obtido valores superiores em média de 22% sobre a média geral das cultivares (24.55 t...

Brazil is the world's largest producer of common bean. Knowledge of the genetic diversity and relatedness of accessions adapted to Brazilian conditions is of great importance for the conservation of germplasm and for directing breeding programs aimed at the development of new cultivars. In this context, the objective of this study was to analyze the genetic diversity, population structure, and linkage disequilibrium (LD) of a diversity panel consisting of 219 common bean accessions, most of which belonging to the Mesoamerican gene pool. Genotyping by sequencing (GBS) of these accessions allowed the identification of 49,817 SNPs with minor allele frequency > 0.05. Of these, 17,149 and 12,876 were exclusive to the Mesoamerican and Andean pools, respectively, and 11,805 SNPs could differentiate the two gene pools. Further the separation according to the gene pool, bayesian analysis of the population structure showed a subdivision of the Mesoamerican accessions based on the origin and color of the seed tegument. LD analysis revealed the occurrence of long linkage blocks and low LD decay with physical distance between SNPs (LD half decay in 249 kb, corrected for population structure and relatedness). The GBS technique could effectively characterize the Brazilian common bean germplasms, and the diversity panel used in this study may be of great use in future genome-wide association studies.