Diversidade genética de um painel de clones avançados de batata sob condições tropicais

Abstract

Potato is considered one of the most cultivated species in the world, contributing to food security. The crop exhibits a wide diversity of genetic resources, which allows for the development of cultivars adapted to different environmental conditions, resistant to pests and diseases, and with technological quality compatible with different market segments. To quantify the genetic diversity of potatoes, phenotypic and molecular characterization can be used, either independently or in combination. Genetic dissimilarity can be estimated through the morpho-agronomic characterization of clones, considering simultaneous phenotypic differences for the set of evaluated traits. With the help of multivariate techniques, clustering of clones based on their dissimilarity patterns can be performed, optimizing the process of selecting parents or groups of parents for directed crosses, accelerating the development of new genotypes with desirable phenotypes. Crossing divergent clones promotes the release of variability and facilitates the introduction of new alleles.