Descrição de projetos aplicados ao melhoramento de espécies florestais nas instituições de pesquisa existentes na Região Norte

Abstract

The source of the improvement was influenced by two biologists, Charles Darwin and Gregor Mendel, over the years of improvement debates that extended over the years. Despite this, forest improvement can be considered a relatively new science due to the low investment in the forest sector. Forest species have multiple functions for the market, as they provide various products for society, various improvement techniques can increase productivity, reduce the impacts on the environment and achieve desirable characteristics, the techniques of vegetative propagation, and, among grafting and in vitro culture, stand out because they are an alternative to overcome difficulties for the best perfomance of the plant and to achieve desirable characteristics. But the low variability in forest species and the long period for the cycles make such procedures unfeasible. The objective of this work was to describe the projects applied to the improvement of forest species in the research institutions in the north region. The institutions were chosen using the criterion of being a reference center for research in the northern region and for developing projects involving plant breending. The data were obtained from requesting information through formal documents, sent by e-mail and directed to the heads of department in the area of interest or postgraduate program with forest species, in the last thirty (30) years. The spotlighted institution, with the highest number of projects related to the improvement of forest species, was EMBRAPA from Roraima and Acre. Roraima owning (4) projects, Rondônia (0), Tocantins (0), Pará (01), Acre (02), Amapá (01) and Amazonas (1). The most studied species was Bertholletia excelsa. The main qualities that have been improved are linked to biomass production a resistance to pests. Significant contributions to the environment and industry have been acquired by the use of these techniques.