Implantação de uma coleção botânica de fruteiras do gênero Annona (annonaceae) no CECA-UFAL

Abstract

The Annonaceae family comprises more than 130 genera and about 2,500 species, making it the largest family in the order Magnoliales. On Brazilian soil we can find about 250 species distributed in 33 genera. Even with so much variety, only Annona, Duguetia and Asimina can produce edible fruits of commercial interest. Within the Annonaceae family, the genus Annona has great economic importance for its tasty fruits, such as sugar apple (Annona squamosa), soursop (A. muricata), atemoya (A. squamosa x A. cherimola) and cherimoya (A. cherimola), for example. The present work aims to describe the formation of a germplasm bank with species of the genus Annona at the Centro de Engenharias e Ciências Agrárias da Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Campus Rio Largo (Lat. 09o28'02''S and Long. 35o,49'43 ''O), with altitude 127 m, hot and semi-humid climate, average annual temperature of 25.4oC, U.R. 70% and average annual precipitation of 1810 mm. Such a collection is justified by the existence of many Annona native to Alagoas that are almost unknown to the public but have fruits with great potential or medicinal interest. In addition, several species of commercial interest that do not exist in Alagoas can be studied and experimented and awaken the interest of fruit growers. Initially, 20 species of the genus Annona will be established in an area of 500 m2 in the field. The plants will be spaced 3 x 3 m in a square alignment, with only one seedling of each species being initially planted in the area due to insufficient available area. The seedlings were obtained from fruit seeds collected in native forests in Alagoas or from homegrown orchards in different regions of Brazil. The seedlings were produced in plastic bags with 2 kg of Bioplant substrate and after reaching a minimum height of 40 cm, the seedlings were planted in the field in 40 x 40 x 40 cm holes fertilized with 10 liters of tanned goat manure, 500 g of limestone dolomite and 40 g of the formula N-P-K 0-20-20. The collection will be maintained over time with the following cultural practices: weeding in the canopy projection (minimum diameter of 1 m), weeding between the rows, organic and mineral fertilization for coverage, micro-sprinkler irrigation as needed, pest control and diseases, cleaning, and correction pruning.

Keywords: Botanical collection, germplasm bank, Annonaceae.