Caracterização fenotípica e variação genética quantitativa em Dipteryx alata Vog. (Barueiro) do cerrado

Abstract

The Cerrado biome is the second largest in Brazil, occupying 23% of the national territory, has several vegetation types, and has the richest flora among the world's savannas. The baru tree, due to its wide geographic distribution, is a species with the ability to display high levels of genetic diversity, thus providing the ability to occupy different habitats. The species in question has a multitude of uses, constituting a key species for studying domestication and cultivation. This study aimed to obtain information about the patterns of phenotypic variation for some traits of fruits, seeds and seedlings of baru and to estimate the genotic variability among and within 25 natural subpopulations of Dipteryx alata Vog., based on quantitative data. Fruits were collected from plants of 25 regions in the Cerrado biome, sampling six plants per subpopulation and, at least, 25 fruits per plant. The data were submitted to descriptive analysis, analysis of variance and correlation between traits. There was significant variation for all variables at all levels evaluated; among fruits within plants, among plants within subpopulations and among subpopulations for the fruits and seed traits evaluated. There was variation among progeny within subpopulations and among subpopulations for initial and final height, number of leaves, total leaf size, number of internodes and root length of seedlings. A greater proportion of variability was observed between plants within subpopulations. Correlation analysis demonstrated significant correlations for most pairs of characters of fruit evaluated at different hierarchical levels. The heritability found for final height, fresh weight and dry weight of shoots indicates possibility of gains from selection for these characters.