Author(s)

Daniela Silvia de Oliveira Canuto¹, Alexandre Marques da Silva¹, Miguel Luiz Menezes Freitas², Alexandre Magno Sebbenn², Mario Luiz Teixeira de Moraes¹

¹Ilha Solteira School of Engineering, São Paulo State University (UNESP), São Paulo, Brazil.
²Forestry Institute, São Paulo, Brazil.

Aroeira (Myracrodruon urundeuva) is a widely spread tree species, but due to its excellent wood quality it is now part of the list of vulnerable trees for extinction. Thus, strategies for the conservation of the genetic variability of the remaining natural populations are needed. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the genetic variability in M. urundeuva progeny tests, from natural populations located in areas with and without human disturbance. Seeds of six natural populations of M. urundeuva were collected from two conditions, with and without anthropogenic disturbance, and nine progeny tests were installed in the Education, Research and Extension Farm, located in Selvíria, Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil. The overall height, average crown diameter (DMC) and the diameter at breast height (DBH) were assessed as phenotypic traits. Estimates of variance components and genetic parameters were obtained by REML/BLUP method (maximum restricted likelihood/best unbiased linear prediction). The results showed that natural population with human disturbance presented less genetic variability than populations originating from areas without human disturbance (CV_r until 0.87). The progeny tests evaluated had high accuracy (0.91 for DBH), which ensures the viability of the ex situ genetic conservation bank and its successful use in the breeding program, i.e., in the conversion of the progeny tests into M. urundeuva seed orchards. The most suitable character for selection was the DBH.

Conservation, Improvement, Seed Orchard

de Oliveira Canuto, D. , da Silva, A. , Freitas, M. , Sebbenn, A. and de Moraes, M. (2017) Genetic Variability in Myracrodruon urundeuva (Allemão) Engl. Progeny Tests. Open Journal of Forestry, 7, 1-10. doi: 10.4236/ojf.2017.71001.