Relationship between the development of the spear leaf and the weight of the foliar heart of peach palm (Bactris gasipaes Kunth).

Abstract

The varieties used were developed from

germplasm coming from three different geographical regions,

Diamantes-10 and Diamantes-20 from the High Amazon area

and Panamá, respectively; and Diamantes-1 and Utilis-

Tucurrique from Costa Rica. The results showed differences

among them. One example of the spectrum of correlations and

regressions obtained in this work, is the synchronism of

development among the leaf parts . sheath, petiole and blade .

which is greater in the varieties Utilis-Tucurrique and

Diamantes-1 than in the other two. The last two differ between

themselves in several aspects. For the correlation between

foliar heart of palm weight and sheath length of the spear leaf,

the variety Diamantes-1 shows the highest coefficient (r =

0.83), followed by Utilis-Tucurrique (r = 0.77), while

Diamantes-10 and Diamantes-20 had lower values (r = 0.60 and

0.57 respectively). The correlation between foliar heart of palm

weight and the degree of opening of the spear leaf lamina is

larger for Diamantes-1 (r = 0.86) than for Utilis-Tucurrique (r =

0.76) and Diamantes-10 and Diamantes-20 (r = 0.71 and 0.70

respectively). From those results it is clear that the prediction

of the maximum weight reached by the foliar heart of palm is

more accurate in Diamantes-1 (r = 0.86) than in the other three

varieties (r = 0.76, 0.71 and 0.70). The regression curves

clearly show the best spear leaf blade opening stages to harvest

for each variety. Besides, there is no correlation between the

degree of opening of the spear leaf blade and the caulinar heart

of palm weight.