In order to generate information for the Piper hispidinervum breeding program, in the Acre State, Brazil, the genetic divergence among fifteen populations collected in different regions of the State was evaluated. The following morphoagronomic traits were assessed: leaf length and width, petiole length and diameter, canopy volume, essential oil yield and safrole content (major component of this essential oil). Cluster analyses, using the Tocher's optimization and single linkage methods, besides the canonical variables analysis, were applied. Significant differences were observed in all traits. The Tocher's grouping method allowed to identify three divergent groups. The first three canonical variables accounted for 76% of the original data variance, forming four groups that corroborated most the results of the previous analysis. The two most important variables for distinguishing the groups were the safrole content and the essential oil yield, which were considered basic for the selection of superior genotypes. The similarity or divergence groups allowed to identify populations with interesting characteristics for breeding programs involving this species.
Long pepper; safrole; essential oil; genetic variability
