Scale-up of plants production of native palm trees economically important

• Grant number: 19/09095-0
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: June 01, 2020
• End date: May 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Crop Science
• Principal Investigator: Mariza Monteiro
• Grantee: Mariza Monteiro
• Company: Mariza Monteiro
• CNAE: Produção de mudas e outras formas de propagação vegetal, certificadas
• City: Piracicaba
• Associated researchers: Carlos Augusto Colombo ; Cesar Augusto Zanello ; Luciano Delmondes de Alencar ; Maria Imaculada Zucchi
• Associated scholarship(s): 20/07834-8 - Scale-up of plants production of native palm trees economically important, BP.PIPE

Abstract

The palm trees belong to the family Arecaceae and are more important in tropical plants for man. They are extracted as food products, oil for medical and cosmetic use, energy and lubricant, civil construction material, luxury jewelry, and many other industrialized products. In Brazil, more than 250 species of palm trees are registered, more than half occurring in the Amazon and the remainder distributed throughout the country. The important palm trees for Brazil are juçara (Euterpe edulis), jarina (Phytelephas macrocarpa), açai tree (Euterpe oleracea) and macaúba (Acrocomia aculeata). However, the main exploratory form has been by extractivism, which has contributed to reduce the genetic variability and the degradation of the forests, being able to lead to the extinction of these species. Tissue culture techniques are used to clone the superior genotypes, a germplasm system, a virus-free virus wave and scale-up micropropagation of plants, making it a great importance for genetic improvement. Somatic embryogenesis was the main route of regeneration in palm trees, providing advantages such as the production of plants a larger scale and the possibility of automatization in some stages of the process, besides the genetic stability of regenerated seedlings. However, the main sources of explants used to initiate embryogenic cultures are from zygotic embryos and meristematic regions (palm hearts). These explants have the disadvantage of regenerating genetically different seedlings (when using zygotic embryos) or sacrificing the palm tree during the extraction of the explants. Therefore, this project aims to establish protocols for regeneration of palm plants in vitro, in large scale from leaf explants or young inflorescences, which allow the production clones from seedlings (clones) and maintaining their viability. (AU)