Abstract

CRUZ MORILLO, Ana; TOVAR, Yeily Paola  and  MORILLO, Yacenia. Morphological Characterization of Selenicereus megalanthus (K. Schum. ex Vaupel) Moran in the Province of Lengupá. Ciencia en Desarrollo [online]. 2016, vol.7, n.2, pp.23-33. ISSN 0121-7488.

Abstract The yellow pitahaya Selenicereus megalanthus (K. Schum. ex Vaupel) Moran is an exotic fruit with an interesting market potential both domestically and internationally. The aim of this study was to identify the genetic variability that exists in the municipalities that produce it in the province of Lengupá with a morphological characterization of 25 genetic materials using 27 descriptors, of which 18 were quantitative and 9 were qualitative, for the phylloclades and fruits. The principal component analysis determined that the main morphological characters discriminant of variability are: rib width (RW), height of the undulations between successive areolas in a rib (UH), fruit length (FL), fruit width (FWI), length of the longest apex bract (LAB), equatorial bract length (LEB), fruit weight (FW), peel weight (PW), pulp/peel ratio (PPR), soluble solids (SS), fruit shape (FS). The heirarchical cluster analysis resulted in four groups that corresponded to where the materials were collected. Genetic diversity exists in the yellow pitahaya which must be used in the breeding programs.

Keywords : Cactaceae; Diversity; Descriptors; Phylloclades.

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