Hort. Sci. (Prague), 2020, 47(1):28-35 | DOI: 10.17221/27/2019-HORTSCI

Minimal morphoagronomic descriptors for Cuban pineapple germplasm characterisationOriginal Paper

Daymara Rodríguez-Alfonso¹, Miriam Isidrón-Pérez¹, Odalys Barrios², Zoila Fundora², José Ignacio Hormaza³, María José Grajal-Martín⁴, Lisset Herrera-Isidrón^*,5

¹ Agrarian University of Havana, San José de las Lajas, Mayabeque, Cuba

² Institute of Fundamental Research in Tropical Agriculture "Alejandro de Humboldt" (INIFAT), Boyeros, Havana, Cuba

³ Instituto de Hortofruticultura Subtropical y Mediterránea La Mayora (IHSM la Mayora-CSIC-UMA), Málaga, Spain

⁴ Canarian Institute of Agrarian Research, Tenerife, Spain

⁵ Unidad Profesional Interdisciplinaria de Ingeniería Campus Guanajuato, Instituto Politécnico Nacional (UPIIG-IPN), Silao de la Victoria, Guanajuato, México

A set of minimum descriptors allow for the rapid characterisation of germplasm facilitating the conservation and use of plant material. The objective of this work was to establish a list of minimum descriptors to facilitate the morphological characterisation of the ex situ pineapple collection in Cuba. Therefore, 48 pineapple accessions were characterised according to the morphoagronomic descriptors established by the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR). The data were processed by Multivariate Analysis, where a Multiple Principal Components Analysis was used for the qualitative and quantitative traits. A list with 14 minimum descriptors was proposed. The leaf's colour, the thickness of the longest leaf, the distribution of the spines, the fruit shape, the fruit colour when ripe, the flesh colour, the weight of fruit flesh, eye form, the fruit height, the fruit diameter, the fruitlet shape, the core diameter, the total soluble solids of the fruit, and the crown weight/fruit weight ratio were selected as the minimum descriptors. Because most of the descriptors refer to the pineapple's genetic improvement or commercialisation aspects, it could be a useful tool for scientists and producers.

Keywords: Ananas comosus var. comosus; genetic resources; germplasm evaluation; accessions; descriptors

Published: March 31, 2020  Show citation