Phenotypic Diversity of Morphological Characteristics of Pitahaya (Selenicereus Megalanthus Haw.) Germplasm in Colombia

Abstract

Yellow pitahaya is an exotic fruit that is rich in essential nutrients and antioxidants. In Colombia, it grows naturally in warm areas, but it is not clear which species exist because this genus presents a lot of intra and interspecific hybridization. More studies are needed in this field along with characterizations of the genotypes. This study aimed to undertake an in situ morphoagronomic evaluation of yellow pitahaya genotypes from five municipalities in Boyacá, Colombia. Measurements were taken in a completely random design. Qualitative and quantitative descriptors for cladodes, fruits and covered production systems were evaluated with a descriptive analysis, Spearman correlation variance, and multivariate and cluster analysis. The results showed that cladode characteristics such as cladode width, distance between areoles, number of spines, length of areoles, margin ribs of cladode and waxiness could be used to identify Megalanthus spp. Characteristics such as weight (270–274 g), size (100 mm), color of the fruit and pulp as well as acidity (0.18) and soluble solids (15.7) were highly variable between the genotypes. Genotypes with good morphological and fruit characteristics were identified (Gen2 and Gen9), which can provide the bases for the selection of pitahaya that satisfy the needs of farmers and consumers.

Characterization of yellow pitahaya (Selenicereus megalanthus Haw.) genotypes under two productive systems in Colombia

“…In this study, the genotypes showed the shape of margin between areolas between concave and right, contrary to that reported in other studies on different species of Hylocereus, where the predominant forms were convex, with the presence of wax (Abirami et al, 2021). The cladode width and distance between areoles corresponded well with earlier studies from México (Castillo et al, 2005), India (Abirami et al, 2021), Puerto Rico and Colombia (Morillo et al, 2021;Betancur et al, 2020;Goenaga et al, 2020).…”

“…Fifteen yellow pitahaya genotypes were evaluated, which were selected in an in situ morphoagronomic characterization study carried out in the main producing municipalities of the Lengupá province: Berbeo, Zetaquira, Paéz, San Eduardo and Miraflores (Morillo et al, 2021). The 15 genotypes were established in two experimental plots in the municipalities of Miraflores and Zetaquira under two production systems in the open field (8 genotypes) and under cover (7 genotypes), the experimental design was completely randomized, with 10 repetitions per genotype and in where the treatments corresponded to the 15 selected yellow pitahaya genotypes (Table 1, Figure 1).…”

“…The quantitative descriptors were evaluated in situ: plant height (PH), number of vegetative sprouts (NVS), sub-sprouts (SS), longest sprouts length (LSL), distance between areoles (DBA), width of the ribs in the apical region (WRA), width of the ribs in the middle region (WRM), width of the ribs in the basal region (WRB), height of undulations between successive areoles in a rib (HUA), number of spines per areole (NSA) and longest spine length (LSP). These descriptors have been used successfully in the evaluation of pitahaya germplasm in Colombia (Morillo et al, 2021).…”

“…Boyacá is one of the departments of Colombia, where the cultivation of yellow pitahaya has the productive potential and the edaphoclimatic conditions for its production, in addition to the fact that there are producer associations that encourage its planting (Morillo et al, 2022b). Despite the productive potential, a limiting factor in the development of this crop in Colombia is the incidence of pest and diseases, low quality of the fruit, the technological level, mechanical damage during shelf life and the lack of cultivated material which generates considerable economic losses (González-Trujillo et al, 2019;Morillo et al, 2021;Álvarez-Herrera et al, 2023).…”

“…Morphological and molecular characterization studies carried out on the germplasm at the Department of Boyacá have shown that there is genetic diversity in the province of Lengupá, which is the basis for the establishment of any selection process that would identify elite materials that respond to the needs of the farmer, producers, and consumers. Selenicereus megalanthus, or yellow pitahaya, a native fruit tree, constitutes a key product for the fruit and vegetable sector, with significant demand for its flavor, appearance, quality, and nutraceutical properties (Morillo et al, 2021(Morillo et al, , 2022a. In addition, it has market potential, both domestically and internationally.…”