One characterized the genetic diversity among accessions of assai palm using RAPD markers. One hundred and sixteen accessions conserved in the Embrapa Eastern Amazon germplasm collection, in Belém, PA, were analyzed using 28 primers. The data of the binary matrix were used to estimate the genetic dissimilarities using the arithmetical complement of Dice similarity coefficient and also for the bootstrap analysis. The genetic dissimilarities were represented in a dendrogram generated by the UPGMA method. The primers revealed 263 polymorphic RAPD loci presented wide genetic diversity among the accessions, varying from 0,06 to 0,67, being two accessions of the Chaves, PA the most divergent. But, some accessions of the same origin presented low dissimilarities. The dendrogram allowed the formation of eight groups delimited by the genetic mean dissimilarity (dg m: 0,40): two formed by a single accession; two constituted by two accessions and the others for several sub-groups with accessions of different origin. The ideal number of bands for estimating the genetic diversity among 116 accessions was 180. Therefore, the number of bands used in this study was efficient to characterize with precision the genetic relationship among the accessions of assai palm. The accessions divergent should be useful in the formation of nuclear collections and genetic breeding.
Euterpe oleracea; genetic variability; dissimilarity; molecular markers
