Clonal Propagation of Coffea arabica with Indole Butyric Acid and Acclimatization Conditions in Amazonas, Peru: The use of hormones is important in improving the propagation process. The objective of the experiment was to identify the best dose of indole butyric acid (IBA) hormone for the rooting of coffee cuttings of the typical variety through clonal propagation in the Amazon region. The experiment was carried out in two stages. Both stages were carried out under a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The percentage of rooting of cuttings and the number of roots were evaluated. The coffee tree clones were collected from rust tolerant elite plants. In the laboratory, the cuttings were immersed for 10 minutes in fungicide and then in five doses of IBA hormone (1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, and 3000mgL⁻¹) of IBA. They were then placed in a microtunnel. With the best dose obtained in stage 1 of IBA (T4: 2000mgL⁻¹), which achieved a rooting percentage of 52.50 and 5.8 roots on average, stage 2 was installed for the evaluation of acclimatization conditions (greenhouse and nursery). Thirty plants of the Típica variety were evaluated per treatment. Regarding the results after 90 days, the greenhouse obtained the highest values with 72.22 survival, a plant height of 9.48cm, 4.32mm stem diameter, 6.53 leaves per plant, 9.65cm leaf length, and 3.83cm leaf width. The IBA hormone in a controlled environment such as the greenhouse achieves good vegetative propagation for the Típica variety.

The African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq) is a crop that is widely distributed in tropical regions around the world; however, this crop is subject to limitations such as rapid trunk growth and susceptibility to bud rot and red ring diseases particularly in South America. To overcome these limitations, national breeding and conservation programs have been established, and there is a need to identify parental palms from natural populations of the American oil palm (E. oleifera H.B.K. Cortes) with desirable yield and morphological traits (i.e., yield production and bunch number) and with high genetic diversity. However, in Peru the morphological and genetic data related to this important crop is limited. In this study, we characterized the morphological and yield and estimated the genetic diversity using 12 neutral microsatellite markers (simple sequence repeats, SSRs) across 72 oil palm individuals belonging to the E. oleifera germplasm collection located in the tropical region of Ucayali, Peru. Our results showed that morphological and yield traits explained approximately 40.39% of the variability within the Peruvian germplasm. Furthermore, Yield Production was highly correlated with two yield traits: Bunch Number (0.67) and Average weight per bunch (0.78). Based on the yield and morphological traits, a clustering analysis was performed and three phenotypic groups were identified (1, 2 and 3) in which groups 1 and 3 showed high scores associated primarily with yield traits. Microsatellite markers revealed 143 alleles, 11.92 ± 4.72 alleles per locus (A) and an expected heterozygosity (He) of 0.69 ± 0.045. A structural analysis identified three populations (k = 3), that were not related to the phenotypic groups. Interestingly, a multiple allele background was identified within the groups using multilocus and phylogenetic relationship analyses. This is the first Peruvian report regarding E. oleifera that shows preliminary data of the morphological and yield traits and genetic data, and highlight the importance of this information to set up future steps to national breeding strategies and improve the conservation of genetic material of E. oleifera. Overall, these novel findings could contribute to the development of the local oil palm industry in Peru.

La variabilidad genética de clones de cacao (Theobroma cacao L.), que existe en el jardín clonal de la Estación Experimental Pichanaqui, de procedencia nacional e internacional, plantea la necesidad de realizar una caracterización morfológica a nivel de frutos, con descriptores morfológicos y escalas para cada tipo de tejido colectado, que usaron como auxiliares las siglas, los colores y formas que permitieron diferenciar las características de cada individuo. Las variables evaluadas fueron número de frutos por planta, peso de mazorcas maduras, numero de granos por mazorca, peso de almendras seca por mazorca, peso de 10 semillas secas, presencia de plagas como la Moniliasis (Moniliophthora roreri), Escoba de bruja (Moniliophthora perniciosa), Mancha parda (Phytophthora palmivora), Perforador (Carmenta foraseminis), Chinche amarillo (Monalonium dissimulatum) y calidad organoléptica en pulpa fresca. Además, se evaluaron variables económicas como el ingreso neto del clon por hectárea. Los resultados indicaron que los mejores clones por su productividad, tolerancia media a plagas y enfermedades, rentabilidad y sabor fueron: ICS 1, ICS 60, SCA 6, ICS 39, y TSH 565. En conclusión, se debería fomentar la siembra de estos clones en los productores de la zona a fin de mejorar su competitividad en el mercado local y nacional.

Objectives: Elaeis oleifera, commonly known as the American oil palm, plays a crucial role in the agricultural economies of Central and South America due to its unique oil characteristics and resistance to certain diseases. Despite its importance, limited available genetic information has hindered the effective utilization of this species in breeding programs aimed at improving oil yield and disease resistance. This study employed Genotyping-by-Sequencing (GBS) to profile polymorphisms within Elaeis oleifera populations, the unique germplasm bank for Peru, located in Ucayali, Peru, aiming to characterize the gene pool. Data description: The GBS analysis successfully identified 22,703 informative single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across the twelve-year-old plant genomes (n = 42). Observed heterozygosity (Ho = 0.3086) and expected heterozygosity index (He = 0.3385) were quantified. The fixation index (Fst = 0.0048) indicated low genetic differentiation within the germplasm. However, the presence of two genetic clusters (C_1 and C_2) distributed homogenously within the studied population has been detected; the origin of these clusters could be mainly associated with the initial management of the germplasm nucleus within Peru. The extensive SNP dataset provides a comprehensive genetic map that is invaluable for the conservation and enhancement of Elaeis oleifera in our region.

En las plantaciones de cacao criollo fino de aroma de la selva central de Perú, existe una alta incidencia de plagas insectiles y fungosas. El objetivo de esta investigación fue disminuir la incidencia de estas plagas, a menos de 5 frutos dañados/planta, e incrementar la productividad en más de 50 %, con tecnología de bajo costo, que resulta de fácil adopción por pequeños, medianos productores y comunidades nativas, sin contaminar el medio ambiente. La metodología del experimento fue en campo y laboratorio, mediante un diseño en bloques completamente al azar, con 6 tratamientos y 4 repeticiones. Los tratamientos aplicados fueron: T1- kallpapacha (200 mL / 20 L de agua), T2 - Goliat (300 g /20 L), T3 - Super Fungicob (50 g / 20 L), T4 - Trichoderma (200 g/ 20 L), T5 trichoderma + Pochonia (200 g cada una/20 L) y T6 (Testigo). Se evaluaron número de frutos sanos, número de frutos dañados por cada plaga. Como resultado se logró reducir la incidencia de plagas en su conjunto a menos de 5 frutos infectados por planta y se elevaron el número frutos sanos cosechados en más de 50 %. Por lo tanto, el conjunto de aplicación de los tratamientos y manejo agronómico fueron eficientes en el control de las plagas.

Forest plantations represent an alternative to reduce timber extraction pressure in the Amazonian forests. In order to tolerate the hostile field conditions of deforested areas, high-quality seedlings are required. This study aimed to find the optimal dose of a native microbial consortium (NMC), which enhances seedling quality indicators, in three forest species at nursery phase. A completely randomized design (3 × 5) was used. Factor 1: Bolaina blanca (Guazuma crinita Mart.), Capirona (Calycophyllum spruceanum Benth. Hook. f.), and Marupa (Simarouba amara Aubl.). Factor 2: Incremental doses of 0, 160, 320, 480, and 640 mL NMC per plant. The nursery survival (%), robustness index, root height/length ratio, shoot–root index, Dickson Quality Index (DQI), Nitrogen (%), Phosphorus (%), and Potassium (%) content in tissues were analyzed. Statistical analyses consisted of two-way ANOVA per variable and correlation analysis. The results indicated that increasing doses of NMC did not improve nursery survival for any species; did not decrease the robustness index, plant height/root length ratio, or the shoot–root index for any species; and did not increase the DQI, P%, or K% for any species; however, they did increase the N% for all species. In conclusion, the incremental dose of 160 mL was chosen for increasing the N% without affecting nursery survival.