Plant breeding and in situ utilization of palm trees

Abstract

The palm tree family (Arecaceae) is constituted by approximately 3000 species mainly distributed in the tropics and subtropics. As a source of a variety of products they

Emergência e crescimento inicial de plântulas de Archontophoenix cunninghamiana H. Wendl. & Drude provenientes de sementes de diferentes plantas matrizes

“…Para a produção de mudas, os viveiristas costumam utilizar sementes de maior tamanho, pois normalmente os embriões são bem formados, com maior quantidade de reservas e maior vigor, de forma que produzem plântulas maiores (CARVALHO & NAKAGAWA, 2012). Assim, matrizes que produzem sementes maiores costumam ser utilizadas em programas de melhoramento genético de palmeiras, cujo cruzamento de progenitores com essa característica permite a obtenção de populações com este ganho genético (RIVAS et al, 2012).…”

“…Poucas espécies de palmeiras foram submetidas a programas de melhoramento genético e são cultivadas a nível mundial, portanto, nas sementes e mudas, há alta diversidade genética e fenotípica (RIVAS et al, 2012). Assim, a seleção de indivíduos com características desejáveis de desempenho pode ser realizada antecipadamente, com base na qualidade fisiológica das sementes, emergência e vigor das plântulas (MARTINS-CORDER & SALDANHA, 2006).…”

Biodiversity, Genetic Diversity, and Genetic Resources of Date Palm

“…The latter usually develop from seedlings that are left to grow and generally provide lower-quality dates and remain of local distribution and interest. The exchange of offshoots between farmers and between oases may have resulted in heterozygous and heterogeneous populations, whereas the introduction of seedlings, after fruit consumption, may have resulted in generating more diversity within and among oases (Munier 1981 ;Popenoe 1913 ;Rivas et al 2012 ). However, consumer demands for fruit of specifi c elite cultivars led to their dominance through regional and international germplasm exchange and the loss of genetic diversity due to the disappearance of many cultivars with medium or low fruit quality (Allam and Cheloufi 2012 ;Hasnaoui et al 2011 ;Jaradat and Zaid 2004 ).…”

“…Improving date quality is a major breeding and selection objective; it depends on access to improved cultivars adapted to local climate conditions and on the skill and dedication of scientists and date producers (Rivas et al 2012 ). However, for a successful date palm industry, accurate estimates of genetic diversity and its partitioning, especially for fruit quality traits and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses within and among gene pools in its center of origin and center of diversity, are important considerations.…”

“…Effi cient genetic transformation methods can be utilized to incorporate desired traits in newly developed cultivars. New technologies of genetic manipulation allow the transfer of selected gene(s) to a specifi c genotype in only a single generation that would not be possible by conventional breeding (Rivas et al 2012 ). It is anticipated that access to seed of backcrosses that are identifi ed as being female before germination and genotyped at trait loci to show similarity to the mother plant will soon become available to date palm geneticists and breeders (Aldous et al 2011 ).…”