ABSTRACT
Cacao fruits are agronomically important and show wide variability for several morphological descriptors. The present study aimed to characterize the genetic distance of 51 genotypes of Theobroma cacao L. in the cocoa-producing region of Southern Bahia (Brazil) based on morpho-agronomic descriptors. The inference of genetic similarity was performed from the phenotypic data derived simultaneously from qualitative and quantitative variables, using the Ward-MLM procedure (Modified Location Model) with the SAS® software. The distance matrix was obtained using the Gower logarithmic function. For this, 28 descriptors were evaluated, five qualitative and 23 quantitative. Furthermore, using the likelihood function procedure, the optimal number of groups was five indicating wide variability. Of 23 quantitative descriptors evaluated by fruits and leaves, 95% showed significant differences. The exception was seed width. Groups 1 and 5 were the most distant, while groups 2, 3, and 4 were closest to each other. The greatest difference between increments was 35.32 for the fifth group. The analysis of the first two canonical axes revealed that both represented 81.88% of the variation, with CAN1 and CAN2 responsible for 53.66% and 28.22% of the variation. The most promising genotypes for breeding programs belong to group 5 due to their superior performance for almost all characteristics analyzed.
Index terms:
Theobroma cacao
; Ward-MLM; improvement; genetic distance; morphological diversity.
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