Genetic variability in accessions of the acerola germplasm bank of Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Brazil

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Brazil is the world's largest producer of acerola, Malpighia emarginata (Malpighiaceae); the Northeast is responsible for 60% of the national production. The culture of acerola in Brazil has great genetic variability; plantings have high phenotypic diversity and are not very productive, often originating from propagation by seed. We evaluated the genetic diversity of 42 accessions from the Acerola Active Germplasm Bank of Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. Using 15 RAPD primers, 182 markers were obtained, of which 166 were polymorphic and 16 were monomorphic. We found high genetic variability among the accessions (Ĥ E = 0.29), with no redundancy. Considering the accessions from the states of Pernambuco, Bahia and Pará as distinct groups, there was greater diversity in accessions from Bahia than from the other two states.

Response of Malpighia emarginata active germplasm bank accessions to Meloidogyne enterolobii parasitism

“…Orchards are often established by materials of unknown origin, resulting in poor uniformity of trees and fruits. These and some other factors, such as nematode infections, limit the development of this crop (Salla et al, 2002;Bueno et al, 2007;Moraes Filho et al, 2013).…”

“…Much of the genetic variability of M. emarginata in Brazil is represented in an active germplasm bank (AGB), belonging to Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (UFRPE). This AGB contains 42 accessions from different regions and was implemented with the aim to preserve the genetic variability of M. emarginata, as well as to provide evaluation and identification of promising genotypes (Lima et al, 2003;Moraes Filho et al, 2013). The present study aimed to evaluate the accessions of the M. emarginata AGB for resistance to M. enterolobii.…”