Genetic divergence among progenies of Cnidoscolus phyllacanthus, submitted to three watering regimes

Abstract

This work was carried out aiming to evaluate the effect of three watering regimes on the development of 32 open pollinated progenies of Cnidoscolus phyllacanthus (faveleira) seedlings and studying the genetic divergence between these materials. The faveleira is a xerophylous plant used for restoring degraded areas, human food and animal feed, medical purpose, firewood and low quality wood, energy source, sawmill production, among other uses. The experiment was conducted in a randomized blocks design, in a factorial outline of 32 x 3 (progenies and watering regimes), with four repetitions. Initially, an analysis of variance was conducted with the objective of determining the degree of genetic variability. For the divergence study, the data were submitted to a grouping analysis using Tocher’s method and, additionally, the principal components technique was used to identify the most important characters. Families showing the highest dry root mass means and, or, divergent root/shoot ratios were detached. The reduction in water availability affected negatively most characters, except the number of thorns. Characteristics that may be discarded in future studies are stem diameter, plant height, and leaf, aerial part and total dry matter, these characteristics representing 60% of the evaluated ones.Additional keywords: semi arid, water stress, oleaginous, forage specie