ESTUDO FENOLÓGICO E CULTIVO IN VITRO DE EMBRIÕES DE 73 CAJARANEIRA-ANÃ (Spondias dulcis Parkinson)
Reproductive biology. Embryo rescue. Micropropagation. Biotechnology.
This thesis aimed to characterize the reproductive phenology and study the in vitro performance of cajaraneira (Spondias dulcis Parkinson) embryos cultivated in the technological showcase of Embrapa Roraima in the municipality of Boa Vista-RR. This work arose from the need to contribute to the propagation process of the species, since in the natural environment there is a slow and uneven germination, which is an obstacle to making cultivation viable. To this end, it was necessary to previously carry out a study on the phenological behavior of the species, focusing on the moment in which the turgidity of vegetative buds began after pruning until the emergence of reproductive buds and the moment of harvest. This research makes up the first article of the Thesis and provides essential information for carrying out the following experiment, which concerns the age at which the fruits are collected with the possibility of finding viable embryos for in vitro cultivation. In the second article, cajaraneira embryo cultivation tests were carried out in-vitro, under different culture media (WPM and MS) and phenological age. It was observed that cultivated cajaraneira plants presented seven of the 10 stages described on the BBCH scale, with stage 9 (senescence) when it was not observed due to irrigation management. Plants require 3840 degree days to complete all stages of growth. The understanding of the phenological stages presented will provide a standardization of the phenological stages for S. dulcis in addition to providing the important stages for planning the cultural practices necessary during the cultivation of the species. Together with the description of the BBCH phenological scale, it was possible to describe the unit of accumulated heat in degree days, which will be a parameter for evaluating climate change and testing the adaptability of genotypes to different environmental conditions. Regarding in vitro cultivation, it is concluded that although no statistical differences were observed for germination, visually, embryos 120 days had the best percentage of germination (55%). Therefore, due to the gain in collection time; greater ease of excising embryos; positive correlation with germination due to their smaller size and satisfactory in vitro development (aerial and root parts), this age (120 167 days) presented potential for embryo propagation. Both culture media provided embryo germination. However, adjustments to in vitro establishment protocols are necessary in order to minimize contamination and loss of embryos. Furthermore, further studies must consider the genetic differences between plants, since they originate from propagation via seminifera and have a direct influence on the estimation of the number of fruits needed to obtain 20 germinated 172 embryos.