Francisco Ricardo Ferreira

Germoplasma de fruteiras

The fruit growing is a very important segment of the agro-business, contributing with significant ciphers to both international and national production. Brazil is one of the principal producing countries of fruits of the world. This position of distinction is due to several factors, like the high diversity of climate and high diversity of fruit species that our country shows off, the voracious home market, among others, but principally for the programs of improvement succeeded well, what take the genetic existent variability as a raw material in the banks of germplasm. The Embrapa disposes of a network of gene banks of fruit crops distributed in all the regions of the country, this network is complemented by the enterprises and state institutes of agricultural research and for some federal and state universities. For the principal fruit species, specially for of tropical and subtropical climate, Brazil detains the biggest and best gene banks of the world, such as: pineapple, banana, citrus, passion fruit, grapevine, among many others species. These gene banks are dynamic and they are constantly in processes of enrichment, characterization and evaluation, and principally use in the breeding programs of each fruit crop.

Preliminary characterization of Psidium germplasm in different Brazilian ecogeographic regions

O objetivo deste trabalho foi caracterizar 119 acessos de goiabeira e 40 acessos de aracazeiro identificados em 35 ecorregioes brasileiras, de acordo com descritores da International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). A maioria dos acessos de aracazeiro apresentou grandes espacos entre as nervuras da folha, enquanto os de goiabeira apresentaram espacos pequenos. Os frutos de aracazeiro foram classificados como pequenos, enquanto os de goiabeira apresentaram tamanho de medio a grande. A maioria dos acessos de aracazeiro (91%) apresentou cor branca para a polpa do fruto, enquanto 58% dos de goiabeira apresentaram cor de rosa-claro a rosa-escuro. As diferencas nos frutos entre Psidium selvagens e domesticados indicam que os frutos foram os mais alterados pela selecao artificial.

Carotenoids composition of canistel (Pouteria campechiana (Kunth) Baehni)

ABSTRACT - Canistel (Pouteria campechiana) is a native fruit from Central America and Mexico. This fruit still not known in Brazil, it presents an orange-yellow pulp rich in carotenoids, which has attracted interest as a potential source of vitamin A. The purpose of this study was to determine the carotenoids content and pro-vitamin A values in the pulp of canistel, as well as the percentage of moisture and lipids in the pulp and seeds. Carotenoids were separated by open column chromatography. The content of total carotenoids was 226 ± 4 μg/g. Violaxantin and neoxantin were the predominant carotenoids with 196 ± 5 μg/g followed by zeta-carotene, beta-carotene 5,6-epoxide, beta-carotene and phytofluene. The seeds presented higher levels of total lipids with 4.6 ± 0.2 %, while pulp had 0.61 ± 0.03 % of total lipid. These results indicate that this fruit presented very high levels of total carotenoids when compared to other fruits regularly consumed, and may be considered as a good source of pro-vitamin A (59 ± 6 RAE/100g). However, the main carotenoids found in Canistel have no pro-vitamin A activity. Index terms: canistel, Pouteria campechiana, carotenoids, lipid contents.

Avaliação de clones de bananeira do subgrupo Cavendish (Musa acuminata, AAA) em Cruz das Almas-BA

Foram avaliados em Cruz das Almas-BA, em dois ciclos, 69 clones Cavendish coletados em Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Bahia e Santa Catarina, sendo 49 do tipo Nanicao e 20 do tipo Grande Naine. Os clones foram estabelecidos em area experimental da Embrapa Mandioca e Fruticultura utilizando-se um delineamento em blocos ao acaso com cinco repeticoes e cinco plantas por parcela. Foram utilizados a irrigacao por microaspersao, o espacamento de 3,0 m x 2,0 m e um sistema de conducao com tres plantas/touceira. Os requerimentos agronomicos foram aplicados conforme preconizados para o cultivo. Na avaliacao dos clones, foram consideradas as seguintes variaveis: altura da planta em centimetros (AP); numero de dias do plantio a colheita (ND); peso do cacho em quilogramas (PC); numero de frutos por cacho (NF); e comprimento do fruto em centimetros (CF). Pelos resultados obtidos, verificou-se uma variabilidade media em todas as variaveis avaliadas. Por apresentarem caracteres superiores, foram selecionados cinco clones de Grande Naine (G.N. Taperao, G.N.Rossete, G.N. Willians, G.N. Magario, G.N. SC-074) e quatro de Nanicao (N. IAC Abobada Verde, N. Rossete, N. SC-0008 e N. SC-063).