CHARACTERIZATION AND GENETIC DIVERSITY OF THE CASHEW NATURAL POPULATION THROUGH MORPHOLOGICAL DESCRIPTORS

Abstract

The characterization and the evaluation of genetic relationships in natural populations are extremely important for the management and conservation of genetic diversity. From this perspective, this work aimed to characterize and estimate the genetic diversity of 34 cashew trees from a native and natural population of the rural area of Floriano-Piauí, Brazil, through nine morphological variables related to leaf, inflorescence, height and plant diameter. Data were subjected to multivariate analysis of main and cluster components. The descriptors inflorescence length and inflorescence width were the major contributors to the genetic variation observed in the population. The biplot graph obtained by the two-dimensional projection of the first two main components showed dispersion of accesses within the population, which was confirmed by cluster analysis by the UPGMA method and by the Tocher optimization method. As for genetic diversity, the results show that accesses are organized into two distinct groups, indicating that there is interpopulation phenotypic differentiation. This information is very important for the better management and conservation of natural populations and may support future pre-breeding programs.