HOW TO SELECT INDIVIDUALS TO SUBSIDY SEEDS COLLECTION AREAS WITH SELECTED MOTHER TREES OF Handroanthus impetiginosus (Mart. ex. DC.)?
Semiarid, genetic variability, inter simple sequence repeat, species conservation, seed quality.
Handroanthus impetiginosus (Mart. ex DC.) Mattos (Bignoniaceae) is a tree species with wide geographic distribution, with high ecological and economic potential in the regions where it occurs, being heavily exploited in illegal trade. Thus, efforts are needed to preserve natural populations. Therefore, there is an evident need for the selection of mother trees to produce seeds of high genetic and physiological quality for the conservation of the species. The objective of this study was to define criteria for the selection of mother trees, based on the genetic diversity of individuals and the physiological quality of the seeds, to provide subsidies for the installation of Seeds Collection Areas with Selected Mother Trees of H. impetiginosus. The work was divided into 2 steps, first 30 Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) molecular primers were tested, eight of which were selected because they presented the best amplification pattern and provided 64 loci, 98% being polymorphic. The ISSR primers proved to be efficient, the Nei genetic diversity was 0.35, the Shannon index was 0.52, allowing the identification of an intermediate intrapopulation similarity degree in the sampled population. Subsequently, the physiological quality was evaluated through germination and seed vigour tests of 63 trees. Of this total, 45 individuals can be considered suitable for seed production, because they produced high and intermediate physiological quality seeds. Therefore, through the genetic distance of Nei < 0.72 and individuals with germination greater than 50% is possible to select of H. impetiginosus mother trees to install Seeds Collection Areas with Selected Mother Trees.