Morphological diversity of mountain papayas (Vasconcellea spp.) in Ecuador
Babaco is the most important fruit crop among Ecuadorian mountain papayas. It belongs to Vasconcellea x heilbornii, which also includes plants with smaller fruit and interesting commercial perspectives, the baby-babacos. It is supposedly a hybrid between two occasionally cultivated species, V. stipulata and V. cundinamarcensis. Forty-three accessions of the three species were gathered in the collection of the University of Ambato, and characterized morphologically, using a list of 30 qualitative and 28 quantitative descriptors. The resulting data were submitted to factorial analyses and cluster analysis. Two types of babybabacos were identified on the basis of stipule and floral traits. One of them appeared closer to V. cundinamarcensis, suggesting varying degrees of introgression between the presumed parental species. Babacos and both types of babybabacos were separated in two or more distinct groups, showing a variation unexpected for vegetatively propagated crops. This differentiation shows an important geographic component. Once simply considered a sterile interspecific hybrid, the babaco appears submitted to a dynamic evolution and diversification process, which should be taken into account for creative hybrid breeding.
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | article biblioteca |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | F30 - Génétique et amélioration des plantes, |
| Online Access: | http://agritrop.cirad.fr/534715/ |
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| Summary: | Babaco is the most important fruit crop among Ecuadorian mountain papayas. It belongs to Vasconcellea x heilbornii, which also includes plants with smaller fruit and interesting commercial perspectives, the baby-babacos. It is supposedly a hybrid between two occasionally cultivated species, V. stipulata and V. cundinamarcensis. Forty-three accessions of the three species were gathered in the collection of the University of Ambato, and characterized morphologically, using a list of 30 qualitative and 28 quantitative descriptors. The resulting data were submitted to factorial analyses and cluster analysis. Two types of babybabacos were identified on the basis of stipule and floral traits. One of them appeared closer to V. cundinamarcensis, suggesting varying degrees of introgression between the presumed parental species. Babacos and both types of babybabacos were separated in two or more distinct groups, showing a variation unexpected for vegetatively propagated crops. This differentiation shows an important geographic component. Once simply considered a sterile interspecific hybrid, the babaco appears submitted to a dynamic evolution and diversification process, which should be taken into account for creative hybrid breeding. |
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