IDENTIFICATION OF Ricinus communis HYBRIDS FOR LOW PLANT HEIGHT1

Fredson Dos Santos Menezes,Laurenice Araújo Dos Santos,Gean Carlo Soares Capinan,Simone Alves Silva,Helison Santos Brasileiro

doi:10.1590/1983-21252021v34n411rc

Fredson Dos Santos Menezes, Laurenice Araújo Dos Santos + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1590/1983-21252021v34n411rc

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Abstract

ABSTRACT Castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) is a plant native to Africa that presents important socioeconomic value for many countries, and has been the subject of breeding programs. In this context, the objective of this work was to identify genotypes with potential for improvement, focused on lowering plant height, using 19 hybrids and eight parents of R. communis. The study was developed at the experimental area of the Federal University of Recôncavo da Bahia in Cruz das Almas, BA, Brazil. The experiment was conducted in 2017 using a randomized block design with three replications, consisting of eight parents and 19 hybrids resulting from hybridization of these parents, grown with spacing of 3 meters between rows and 1 meter between plants. The characters stem diameter (SD), primary raceme insertion height (PRI), number of stem internodes (NSI), mean stem internode length (SIL), plant height (PH), number of harvested racemes (NHR), primary raceme length (PRL), and effective raceme length (ERL) were evaluated by analyzing the genetic parameters of variances and correlation between them. Five (H17, H2, H11, H13, and H6) of the 19 hybrids evaluated have potential to decrease PH of castor bean plants, presenting heights below 1.07 m. Direct selection for plant height is the most indicated for this purpose due to the high heritability of the character. However, the characters SD, PRI, and SIL stood out by assisting in indirect selection to decrease plant height because they can be early measured and present high heritability and strong correlation with PH.

Highlights

The cultivation of castor bean (Ricinus communis L.; Euphorbiaceae) has high economic, social, and environmental importance; it is grown mainly for the oil extracted from its seeds, which is useful mainly for the manufacturing of biofuels and cosmetic and pharmacochemical products (MIRANDA et al, 2017; RUKHSAR et al, 2018)
Low plant height is important for R. communis to determine plant density, which may contribute to the adaptability of plants to different environments for single or intercropped cultivation (LISBOA et al, 2018; SORATTO et al, 2011)
The development of castor bean plants with low heights may allow their growth in denser systems, which provides better area use, generating a higher production, and higher yields, since plants grown under denser systems present better light interception and significant decreases in vegetative drains (PIVETTA et al, 2017)

Summary

Introduction

The cultivation of castor bean (Ricinus communis L.; Euphorbiaceae) has high economic, social, and environmental importance; it is grown mainly for the oil extracted from its seeds, which is useful mainly for the manufacturing of biofuels and cosmetic and pharmacochemical products (MIRANDA et al, 2017; RUKHSAR et al, 2018). The development of castor bean plants with low heights may allow their growth in denser systems, which provides better area use, generating a higher production, and higher yields, since plants grown under denser systems present better light interception and significant decreases in vegetative drains (PIVETTA et al, 2017). This morphoagronomic characteristic have been a main target in breeding programs, the results regarding decreases in height have not been satisfactory (SILVA et al, 2017). There is no studies focused on the development of hybrids to decrease R. communis plant height nor on important genetic parameters for this character

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