Abstract
Urucum is a plant adapted to the soil and climate conditions of the semi-arid region. This study evaluates the biometry of urucum seeds. Twenty seeds of annatto were collected in an area of native vegetation with presence of the species, located in the Mossoró Mountains in the municipality of Mossoró, State of Rio Grande do Norte, Northeast Brazil in July 2017 and taken to the plant breeding laboratory, where the following characteristics were evaluated: (a) morphological characterization of the seed being determined the length and width in millimeters, of 200 seeds well developed, with the aid of a pachymeter with precision of 0.1mm and (b) weight of the seed expressed in grams. Descriptive and graphical analyzes were carried out using the statistical software R. The length and width showed a small range of variation, resulting in excellent and reasonable values of coefficients of variation, respectively. We found a regular degree of symmetry and a mesokurtic distribution for length and width of seeds. There was no significant linear correlation between length and width. The features of urucum seeds did not fit to the normal distribution of probability.
Highlights
The urucum or urucu (Bixa orellana L.), a shrub species native from tropical America, has gained importance in the world agricultural market every year and is cultivated in the tropics all over the world (Mercadante & Pfander, 1998)
The length and width of seeds had a small amplitude of variation and a greater amplitude for the weight in miligrams (Table 4), as well as an optimum, good and regular value respectively for the coefficients of variation, which shows a high, medium and regular degree, respectively, of homogeneity of these characteristics evaluated, the length being much less dispersed than the width and the weight of the seeds
The length and width of seeds had a small amplitude of variation and a greater amplitude for the weight in miligrams, as well as an optimum, good and regular value respectively for the coefficients of variation, which shows a high, medium and regular degree, respectively, of homogeneity of these characteristics evaluated, the length being much less dispersed than the width and the weight of the seeds
Summary
The urucum or urucu (Bixa orellana L.), a shrub species native from tropical America, has gained importance in the world agricultural market every year and is cultivated in the tropics all over the world (Mercadante & Pfander, 1998). The fruits are ovoid capsules containing 30 to 40 seeds (Lorenzi, 1998). The urucum produces particular atoxic coloring substances with the indication as a hypolipidemic agent, which makes it one of the few pigments allowed by the World Health Organization (Silva et al, 2006). Urucum is a pioneer species native to the Amazon Rainforest. The fast growth of urucum allows the cultivation together with other species in degraded areas destined to reforestation (Lorenzi, 1998)
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