Seleção de ameixeiras promissoras para a Serra da Mantiqueira

Abstract

Plum (Prunus salicina Lindl) is a fruit species commercially cultivated in regions of mild and severe winters, and cultivar selection is mainly based on climate adaptation. The objective of this study was to select superior genetic materials, adapted to edafoclimatic conditions to the south region of Minas Gerais State, in the highlands of Serra da Mantiqueira. The evaluations were carried out with the plum cultivars ‘Pretinha’, ‘Irati’, ‘Gema de Ouro’, ‘Reubennel’, ‘Roxa de Delfim Moreira’, ‘Gulfblaze’, ‘Frontier’, ‘Santa Rosa’, and nine selections (selection I, selection II, selection III, selection IV, selection V, selection VI, selection VII, selection VIII and selection IX), grafted onto the rootstock ‘Okinawa’. The experiment was arranged in arandomized block design, with eigth cultivars and nine selections, with four repetitions. Plant vegetative development of eighteen, and twenty-four month old plum trees was evaluated during the crop cycle 2007/2008, besides phenological data on sprouting, blooming, fruiting and harvest. The resultsshowed that the selections III and IX were earlier; selections VII, VIII, ‘Gema de Ouro’ and ‘Reubennel’ were midseason; and ‘Irati’ and ‘Gulfblaze’ were late. Cultivars Irati, Gema de Ouro and Reubennel showed better adaptation to soil and climatic conditions to the region of the highlands of the Mantiqueira Mountain Range in Minas Gerais.