Phenotypic distance among assai palm’s mother plants (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) from Eastern Amazon

The açai palm tree (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) is native to the Amazonian estuary. Media revelation of the nutraceutical properties of açai palm has resulted in its introduction in the national and international markets, consequently increasing the açai palm crop area in the Amazon. Nevertheless, açai palm cultivation is performed in a rational manner, because of limited product extraction from the native açai palm varieties. The study aimed to conduct a preliminary estimate of genetic variability, parameters, and phenotypic divergence of parent açai palms. Data from 129 parent plants from northeast Pará was collected. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of 22 morphoagronomic traits was performed to estimate the genetic parameters. Divergence was estimated using standardized average euclidean distance by using unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) and Tocher clustering methods. Significant variance was noted in 77.3% traits (ANOVA, p<0.01 and p