Vegetative morphology of Phytelephas macrocarpa in the northwest of the Peruvian Amazon

Yupe-Rosero K.; Escobar S.; Mejía K.; Cano-Guevara J.; Tapia J.; Salazar-Vega Á.A.; Rodríguez-Cabrera E.H.; del-Castillo Á.M.R. · Revista de la Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicas y Naturales (2024) · DOI: 10.18257/raccefyn.2639

Resumen

The uncontrolled use of Phytelephas macrocarpa resources and deforestation have decreased natural populations near populated centers. Here, we evaluated the vegetative morphology of Phytelephas macrocarpa to understand the variability of its populations in the northwest of the Peruvian Amazon by examining 28 characters (18 quantitative and 10 qualitative) from 180 adult palms, comparing them using ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis tests, and visualizing them through a multivariate analysis of hierarchical clustering and principal components. Finally, we used Spearman’s correlation analysis to estimate the association between characters, most of which showed a high variation (< 20%) and were all significantly different (p < 0.05). Two groups were formed based on the habit of the palm three: the first was composed of acaulescent palms with longer leaves and the second, with decumbent to erect stems and shorter leaves. The principal components analysis (PCA) showed that Andiviela, Caynarachi, Palestina, and Shapaja had the most variable populations. The strongest associations were between leaf length and rachis length (0.94) and between basal rachis diameter and petiole diameter (0.85). This information demonstrates the variability of the vegetative characters of Phytelephas macrocarpa and serves as a reference for the sustainable use of populations with larger leaves.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de San Martín; Universidad César Vallejo; Universidad Peruana Unión