Peach palm - World Agroforestry Centre

6 4 Peach palm. Bactris gasipaes Kunth
• Determine: (1) the most sustainable combination of plant density and number
of stems/plant, and (2) the mineral requirements for long-term fruit production
in plantations and in traditional agroforestry systems.
• Determine: (1) the most sustainable combination of plant density, planting
arrangement and offshoot management, and (2) the mineral requirements for
long-term heart-of-palm production in plantations.
• Determine the physiological, genetic and environmental factors involved in
differentiation, development and phenology of vegetative and reproductive
buds.
• Determine the factors involved in the abscission of immature fruits in regions
where this is a problem.
• Quantify growth, yield and physiological parameters for fruit and heart-ofpalm
production.
Genetic improvement
• Determine the costs and benefits of genetic improvement programmes for
peach palm’s major products, including establishment of conservation projects
for valuable landraces.
• Characterize and fully evaluate accessions in existing germplasm banks, and
analyze fruit quality characteristics of promising accessions.
• Collect selected germplasm from the more valuable landraces of cultivated
peach palm for provenance trials, progeny tests, germplasm banks and
breeding populations (e.g. Vaupés, Colombia for fruit, and Pampa Hermosa
around Yurimaguas, Peru for heart-of-palm). Collecting should target
phenotypically superior individuals as identified by farmers.
• Evaluate genetic variation in adaptively and economically important traits
among and within landraces of cultivated peach palm in replicated
multilocation provenance trials, and estimate their genetic parameters in
replicated multilocation progeny tests. Traits are listed in Tables 7 and 8.
• Determine the effectiveness of phenotypic selection in the field, and multitrait
selection indices for early selection in the nursery, germplasm banks and
experimental plots.
• Determine the genetics of the incompatibility mechanism and the rate of selfing
among and within landraces.
• Determine inbreeding and heterotic effects on adaptively and economically
important traits.
• Determine if apomictic seeds are produced, and the frequency of apomixis if
present.
• Assess the potential value of peach palm’s ancestral forms for incorporation
into genetic improvement programmes. Studies of indigenous knowledge
about these ancestral forms could provide insight into their potential value.