Genetic variability in morphological characters among Fig tree accessions Fig genetic conservation

Abstract

Fig is among the twenty main fruits exported by Brazil, which is the eighth largest producer of fig in natura in the world. The characterization of active germplasm banks (AGBs) of fig has thus become an important line of research, as it is necessary to gather information from this to carry out adequate management projects. The objective of this study was to characterize the morphologies of 42 fig tree accessions, so that the quality and genetic potential of different accessions of the species could be recognized based on the characteristics of the vegetative parts of the plants. Estimates of variance components were obtained for each variable evaluated using the restricted maximum likelihood/best linear unbiased prediction procedure, available in the genetic-statistical software SELEGEN. The majority of the characters analyzed had a genotypic coefficient of variation lower than the environmental coefficient of variation. However, all characters had non-zero heritability, showing that there is genetic variability among the accessions related to the characters tested. The population studied has medium to high genetic variability, indicating that it is possible to identify the materials based on morphological descriptors, among which the number of lobes of the leaves appeared to be the most promising.