Caracterización morfológica de accesiones de bambúes (Bambusoideae) conservados en el INIAP, Estación Experimental Central de la Amazonia

Abstract

Bamboo (Bambusoideae) is a perennial plant belonging to the grass family, known for its rapid growth and versatility in some agricultural and industrial uses, offering several benefits in food, construction, sustainable agriculture, etc. However, there is a lack of studies on morphological variability, therefore, the objective of this research was to characterize the morphological variability of bamboo accessions from the germplasm collection of the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIAP), through the observation of their morphological characteristics, to identify patterns of diversity and differentiation among them. The methodology consisted of characterizing 48 accessions, using 30 variables that included qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the culm, foliage leaves, cauline leaf, rhizome, branch, and bud. Cluster analysis identified three distinct groups of bamboo accessions suggesting considerable morphological variability. The first group, with 26 accessions, showed predominant characteristics: a great number of total culms and a wide base circumference, indicating adaptability. The second group of 5 accessions showed unique characteristics, while the third group with 17 accessions showed intermediate diversity. A descriptive frequencies analysis for the quantitative variables revealed that the characteristics with the greatest variability were several total culms, base circumference, culm height, base diameter, and DBH. The qualitative variables with the highest discriminant value were 3, such as sheath pubescence, culm leaf shape, and culm shape, on the other hand, the most discriminant quantitative variables were 3, culm height, culm leaf width and lamina width, these findings showed a remarkable differentiation between the accessions which allowed the identification of three genetic groups, which will contribute to the development of more resilient crops, supporting initiatives for conservation and sustainable use of bamboo.