Identification and preliminary characterization of early fruiting mangabeira (Hancornia speciosa – Apocynaceae)

The mangabeira (Hancornia speciosa G.) is a native Brazilian species in the process of domestication. It has several potential uses. In recent years the populations of mangabeira have become fragmented and, to conserve their genetic resources, Embrapa Tabuleiros Costeiros has, since 2006, maintained a Mangaba Genebank, which currently has 299 individuals distributed across 27 accessions. In one of these accessions (CP), first fruiting was observed to occur at 13 months, indicating precocity. The current project was developed with the intention of morphologically characterizing the CP accessions and evaluating the extent of genetic diversity between genotypes, based on genetic markers associated with fruiting precocity. Morphological variation in crown and leaf shape, growth habit, total height, stem diameter and canopy height were investigated. For molecular characterization, 18 CP accession genotypes were used, all from Sergipe State, Brazil, and 11 ISSR markers were studied that generated 62 fragments with 91.4% polymorphism. The fruits have physical and chemical characteristics suitable for in natura consumption and also for processing. UPGMA dendrogram analysis showed the genotypes CP2 and CP6 to be most similar and CP10 the most divergent within the CP accessions. The results showed the existence of polymorphism, and genetic divergence among genotypes, thus reinforcing the importance of constant germplasm characterization, which guarantees information on gene sources for future use, while providing information concerning potential parents that can be used in breeding programs as well as the identification of duplicates.