Genetic diversity via REML-BLUP of ex situ conserved macauba [Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Lodd. ex Mart.] ecotypes

Abstract

Macauba [Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Lodd. ex Mart.], a palm tree native to Brazil, has a high potential as an alternative source for vegetal oil production. It has several applications in the cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and food industries, and for the production of biofuels. The conservation and characterization of its germplasm are essential for progress in genetic improvement. In this sense, a study of genetic divergence was carried out based on predicted genetic values of 88 accessions form the Active Germplasm Bank of Macauba of EMBRAPA (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation). Seven morphoagronomic characters were observed. The obtained dendrogram generated seven groups. There was a tendency to group accessions according to geographic origin. The graphical dispersion of accession scores plotted in a two-dimensional space showed a pattern correlated to the clusters observed in the dendrogram. The first two principal components (PC1 and PC2) explained 70.4% of the total divergence. The most important traits associated with PC1 and PC2 were the number of fruit bunches and fruit volume, respectively. The application of mixed models in the study of divergence was useful in structuring the germplasm. The structuring of the germplasm is crucial to assist in the choice of parents aiming the selection of recombinant individuals with a superior performance in segregating generations.

The micronutrient content in underutilized crops: the Lupinus mutabilis sweet case

“…To identify the best traits, the cluster analysis was done first, where Mahalanobis distance was used as the distance matrix 74 with InfoStat software ( www.infostat.com.ar ); and to narrow the selection results based on healthy eating, the micronutrient criteria: Fe > 40 mg kg −1 29 , Zn > 28 mg kg −1 29 , B > 13 mg kg −1 75 , Cu < 9 mg kg −1 76 , and Mn < 30 mg kg −1 77 and mean-coefficient of variation for micronutrient (MCV micronutrient ) of less or equal than 10% 78 were used.…”

A Collaborative, Systems Approach for the Development of Biomass-Based Value Webs: The Case of the Acrocomia Palm

“…• Genetic characterization and plant breeding. Knowledge of A. aculeata has been expanded by the genetic and biometric characterization of germplasm from natural populations in various regions of Brazil, progress in molecular biology information on the species, the study of its reproductive biology, and the establishment of germplasm banks [6,12,[60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77]. This has allowed the identification of promising genetic material for selection.…”