Selection of Hancornia speciosa germplasm accessions based on the FAI-BLUP index

Abstract

Hancornia speciosa Gomes is one of the native fruit species most frequent in the Brazilian Savanna. Studies on the genetic variability of quantitative traits for this species are scarce and the identification of accessions with the best agronomic traits may support strategies for conservation and breeding programs. This study aimed to estimate the genetic diversity of accessions from the H. speciosa germplasm collection of the Universidade Federal de Goiás (Goiânia, Goiás state, Brazil) and rank them based on a selection index combining eleven agronomic traits.  A total of 192 individual accessions from 57 progenies, from 29 natural populations, were evaluated. The data were subjected to multivariate analysis and the individuals and progenies evaluated using the FAI-BLUP selection index. The Tocher cluster analysis allowed grouping the progenies into ten divergent clusters and the individuals into 18 divergent clusters. The simultaneous selection of traits based on the FAI-BLUP index may be recommended while maintaining the potential variability in the population resulting from the recombination. The individual selection proved to be more effective than the selection based on progenies means, because it exploits the genetic variation among and within progenies.

KEYWORDS: Brazilian Savanna, native fruit, mangaba.