Phenotypic divergence of Plinia spp. genotypes based on plant growth behavior

Abstract

Phenotypic divergence among population genotypes is useful to improve our knowledge about how to preserve the genetic resource available. The aim of this study was to evaluate the phenotypic divergence among jabuticaba genotype trees in relation to stem and primary shoot lenght analyzed in three consecutives productive cycles. The genotypes of jabuticaba trees were obtained from Fruteiras Nativas collection of Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR -Campus Dois Vizinhos, Parana State, Brazil). The genotypes had their origin in forest fragments of the Southwest Region of Paraná and Minas Gerais State (Brazil). Phenotypic divergence was performed through analysis of variance (ANOVA), Mahalanobis distance, Tocher optimization cluster analysis and by the nearest neighbor method. The results obtained showed that the diversity among the genotypes were different according to the cycle analyzed since we obtained different groups for each year analyzed. Genotypes from Minas Gerais tended to remain in distinct groups, since it had low similarity with the others. The genotype 'Vitorino' had a high divergence among individuals from the same place.