Author(s)

Lúcia Helena Pinheiro Martins¹, Maria Teresa Gomes Lopes², Hiroshi Noda³, Pedro de Queiroz Costa Neto², Ayrton Luiz Urizzi Martins², Fabíola Viana de Almeida⁴, Liane Cristine Rebouças Demosthenes⁵

¹Núcleo de Etnoecologia da Amazônia (NETNO) Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, Brazil.
²Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias (FCA), Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, Brazil.
³Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Brazil.
⁴Instituto Federal de Educação Tecnológica do Amazonas/Campus Parintins, IFAM/Parintins, Brazil.
⁵Instituto de Ciências Exatas e Tecnologia (ICET), Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Itacoatiara, Brazil.

The Cucurbita maxima Duchesne is a vegetable crop plant cultivated and maintained by traditional Amazon communities, Brazil. The situation is worsened by the possibility of disappearance of local populations and genetic variability of this specie, taking into account the today changes promoted in family farming. The aim of this study was to estimate the current levels of genetic variability of local cultivars through the use of molecular markers (Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism—AFLP). We chose to collect in two distinct micro regions in order to identify possible influences of geographic isolation and different levels of market requirements in the conservation of the genetic variability of the C. maxima. For the molecular analysis, bulk samples of fresh leaves of 15 plants/half-sibling family were collected in paper bags. There were 34 samples from the half-sib families. The analysis of the results half-sib obtained by methods of estimation of genetic variation by molecular markers shows that the forms of cultivation and management adopted by family farmers maintain the identities of the local/landraces (native cultivars) and, at the same time, the levels of diversity for the assurance of adaptability macro-environmental.

Crop Genetic Variability, Molecular Marker, Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism, Cucurbita maxima Duchesne

Martins, L. , Lopes, M. , Noda, H. , de Queiroz Costa Neto, P. , Martins, A. , de Almeida, F. and Demosthenes, L. (2018) Molecular Study of the Genetic Variability of Pumpkins Landraces from Brazilian Amazon. Agricultural Sciences, 9, 511-523. doi: 10.4236/as.2018.94035.