Characterization and Early Selection of Silk Blossom ( Calotropis Procera ) Genotypes With Forage Potential

Abstract

-This study aimed to characterize and select silk blossom genotypes (Calotropis procera) with forage potential. Between April and July 2014, we cultivated 89 genotypes in plastic tubes arranged in a randomized block design with three replications; each experimental plot was composed of 8 plants. The following characteristics were evaluated: plant height (PH), stem diameter (SD), number of leaves (NL), total leaf area (TLA), leaf fresh mass (LFM), stem fresh mass (SFM), root fresh mass (RFM), leaf dry mass (LDM), stem dry mass (SDM), and root dry mass (RDM). Significant differences (p < 0.05) among genotypes were observed for all characteristics, except for NL at 45 and 60 days after sowing (DAS) and for RFM at 60 DAS. Broad-sense heritability estimates and genotype means had medium and high values for most characteristics. Genetic variability among C. procera genotypes was observed. High gain selection was found for the characteristics TLA, PH, SFM, LFM, SDM, and LDM as the genotypes 79, 65, 48, 12, 51, 35, 63, 25, 1, and 46 are suitable for future breeding works to improve forage production.

Genetic Variability among Accessions of Calotropis procera Based on Agronomic Characters

“…In addition to the clustering methods, genetic diversity was evaluated by the canonical variables method, whose basic objective is to provide a structural simplification of the data in two or three-dimensional space. The viability of its interpretation is restricted to the concentration of the variability among the first variables, usually above 80% [16].…”

“…Although the volume of genetic information from molecular markers has increased significantly in genetic diversity studies, emphasis is still placed on the study of diversity through phenotypic characteristics, mainly of a quantitative nature, due to their economic importance in plant breeding programs [15]. Almeida et al [16] started a breeding program for C. procera, with the early selection of seedlings from estimates of genetic parameters. Recently, Almeida et al [9] performed a study of genetic diversity based on seed physiological quality.…”

Growth and chlorophyll indices in seedlings of Calotropis procera (Aiton) W. T. Aiton submitted to different levels of shading

“…The Silk flower (Calotropis procera (Aiton) W. T. Aiton) is an exotic species belonging to the Asclepiadaceae family, with high adaptability to semiarid conditions, where it is considered as biological invasive by some authors (FABRICANTE et al, 2013). It serves as a forage contribution to the herds (FERREIRA et al, 2015;ALMEIDA et al, 2017) and provides increased consumption and weight gain for animals (SILVA et al, 2010). Moreover, it is a plant that has high exploitation potential as green manure due to its high biomass production and the high concentrations of N, P, K in its tissues (SILVA et al, 2018;MEDEIROS et al, 2019).…”

“…A flor-de-seda (Calotropis procera (Aiton) W. T. Aiton) é uma espécie exótica pertencente à família Asclepiadaceae, com elevada capacidade de adaptação às condições semiáridas, onde é considerada como invasora biológica por alguns autores (FABRICANTE et al, 2013). Ela serve como aporte forrageiro para os rebanhos (FERREIRA et al, 2015;ALMEIDA et al, 2017) e propicia aumento do consumo e ganho de peso aos animais (SILVA et al, 2010). Além disso, é uma planta que possui elevado potencial de exploração como adubo verde em razão de sua alta produção de biomassa e das elevadas concentrações de N, P, K em seus tecidos (SILVA et al, 2018;MEDEIROS et al, 2019).…”

PHENOLOGY OF Calotropis procera (Ait.) W.T. Aiton ACCESSIONS BASED ON MORPHOPHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

“…They analyzed the phenology through the cultivation, using the estimation of physiological indexes (ISMAIL, 1992), besides the evaluation of the regrowth of the species (ANDRADE, et al, 2005). The initial growth of C. procera has been studied as a function of water stress (FROSI et al, 2013), of different substrates (OLIVEIRA et al, 2009) and evaluation of different genotypes (ALMEIDA et al, 2017a), contributing to the domestication and cultivation of the species.…”