Análises genéticas dos componentes do fruto da pitombeira (Talisia esculenta, Radlk) no estado do Maranhão

Abstract

The pitomba tree (Talisia esculenta Radlk) is a plant belonging to the Sapindaceae family and is native to Brazil. Its presence is identified from the Amazon region to the Atlantic Forest, spanning from the Northeast to Rio de Janeiro, where it can reach up to twelve meters in height. Its fruits are edible, flavorful, and widely consumed by both humans and wildlife, especially in the Northern and Northeastern regions of the country, where they are enjoyed fresh.Despite the aforementioned importance, the current pitomba production chain is based on extractivism. To transform this species into a competitive crop, it is necessary to domesticate the plant, starting with pre-breeding. Therefore, phenotypic selection of pitomba fruits, targeting the desired characteristics, becomes essential.The objective of this study was to characterize and genetically analyze ten different procedences of Talisia esculenta (Pitomba) to obtain information that can be used in plant breeding programs. For this study, pitomba fruits were obtained from three different locations: the mother plantation at Fazenda Escola São Luís-FESL, in the municipality of Bequimão-MA, and in the

municipality of São José de Ribamar-MA. The fruits were brought and analyzed at the Post- Harvest Laboratory- LAPOC, Agricultural Sciences Center- CCA at the State University of

Maranhão- UEMA.The analysis of variance was performed using the statistical program GENES, and the means of the procedences were compared by the Tukey method at 5% probability. The estimation of the correlation coefficient was calculated using the PEARSON method. In the initial results, the highest values of the standard deviation indicated that there was greater variance for fruit mass and volume, 13.94 and 14.05, and mass and volume of the peel, 8.98 and 9.52, respectively, compared to the other evaluated characteristics. The longitudinal fruit diameter ranged from 22.98mm to 30.92mm, with an average of 26.99mm, and the transverse fruit diameter ranged from 19.15mm to 28.23mm, with an average of 23.35mm, respectively. These characteristics determine the size and shape of the fruit.Regarding the coefficients, it can be observed that the heritability values were high, notably for the peel mass (h2 = 91.642) and pulp yield (h2 = 92.2149), indicating that effective selection for these characteristics can be performed. All heritability coefficients found in this study were above 50%. The components of Talisia esculenta seed showed phenotypic variability, which is of great importance for plant breeding, as this result may indicate the use of mass selection for economically-interesting characteristics. Existing correlations between some characteristics and pulp yield can be used to facilitate the selection of this trait.