Camu-camu (Myrciaria dubia (H.B.K.) McVaugh) is a shrub of the Myrtaceae family that is under the process of domestication. It is a species used by local populations in Peru and Brazil that exploit the plants occurring naturally on the banks of rivers and lakes or cultivated in small areas of dry land. Estimating and understanding the genetic parameters in this species are important to know the genetic structure of populations, infer on the genetic variability and predict genetic gains and the possible success in the breeding program of this crop. Therefore, the objective of this study was to estimate the genetic parameters and the genetic variability in accessions of Camu camu from GermBank of Embrapa Eastern Amazon. In this study, 46 progenies were analyzed and 40 fully ripe fruits were harvested per plant (fruits with totally purple epicarp). Seven morpho-agronomic traits were evaluated: fruit weight (g), fruit length (cm), fruit diameter (cm), epicarp weight (g), epicarp thickness (cm), number of seeds (n) and weight of seeds (g). The components of variance, heritability and variability were estimated using the Genes software. The relative importance of traits, the dissimilarities among the accessions, as well as the genetic correlations among the traits were also studied. Genetic variability was found among the accessions of the camu camu GermBank and the significant correlations among the variables indicate that indirect selection methods can be applied to assist in the process of domestication and breeding of this species.
Myrciaria dubia; native fruit; Amazon; germbank
