Heliconia: Rhizome Propagation, Shooting and Clump Area

Heliconia cultivation is rapidly expanding in Brazil, mainly in the Northeast region. Usually, Heliconia rhizomes are directly transplanted to the field, which has been causing a high percentage of mortality, low shooting rates, and a long time to produce new shoots, depending on the genotype. This...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inActa horticulturae no. 886; pp. 275 - 282
Main Authors Loges, V, Costa, A.S, Castro, M.F.A, Castro, A.C.R, Nogueira, L.C, Guimaraes, W.N.R, Leite, K.P
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published International Society for Horticultural Science 2011
Subjects
cultivars
genotype
germplasm conservation
Heliconia
hybrids
mortality
plant breeding
rhizomes
shoots
spatial distribution
viability
Brazil
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Summary:Heliconia cultivation is rapidly expanding in Brazil, mainly in the Northeast region. Usually, Heliconia rhizomes are directly transplanted to the field, which has been causing a high percentage of mortality, low shooting rates, and a long time to produce new shoots, depending on the genotype. This paper presents information on rhizome viability (RV), number of shoots per clump (NSC) during one year, and area occupied per clump (APC). The evaluations were carried out at the Heliconia Germplasm Collection of Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE), Camaragibe - PE, Brazil. A randomized block design was used, with 30 treatments (genotypes) and 4 replications. The plant spacing was 3.0 m between plants in the rows and 4.0 m between rows. Differences between cultivars and hybrids of Heliconia species were observed from the analyzed traits, especially for RV. Depending on the genotypes, shoot production was observed before 46 days after planting (DAP) or only after 100 DAP. NSC varied from 1.00 to 4.00 at 108 DAP and from 9.40 to 69.25 at 365 DAP. Short Heliconia genotypes such as H. × nickeriensis and H. psittacorum cultivars and hybrids had a larger NSC and APC than medium to tall Heliconia genotypes. The APC evaluation indicated that the use of the same plant spacing for all different Heliconia genotypes is inappropriate and can lead to future problems in plant management. These results indicate that the possibility of success in plant breeding management depends on the selection of genotypes with adequate values for these traits.
ISSN:0567-7572