CONTENT AND VARIATION OF OIL CONTENT IN MACAÚBA PULP (ACROCOMIA ACULEATA) AS AN INDICATION FOR CHOOSING MASSES FOR SEED SUPPLY

The macaúba palm (Acrocomia aculeata) is a promising species for vegetable oil production, with applications in the food, pharmaceutical, energy, and cosmetic industries. It is an allogamous species typical of the Cerrado biome, but it also occurs in the Pantanal, Atlantic Forest, Amazon, and Semi-Arid regions, and can be cultivated in integrated systems, such as pastures, and in areas with a history of water deficits. Thus, commercial interest in macaúba has been growing in Brazil, particularly due to the increasing demand for vegetable oils. However, the lack of cultivars has led to commercial planting from seeds of natural stands, which may result in undesirable genetic variation. Therefore, in an attempt to homogenize the fluctuation in oil content among plants in commercial plantations, this study aimed to characterize the degree of oil content variation in 47 macaúba stands occurring in the states of Pará, Maranhão, Minas Gerais, and São Paulo, as a way to contribute to the selection of the best stands for seed collection for planting. Mean analyses (Tukey 5%), coefficient of variation, and boxplot were used to rank the best stands, considering oil content and its variation. Eleven promising stands were identified, with oil content above 60% and a low level of intrapopulation variation. Of these, 2 stands stood out for having the lowest coefficients of variation and oil content above 65%. Our results suggest that oil content and its variation within the stand, along with other requirements such as fruit production, number of plants in the stand, etc., should be incorporated as recommendations for the selection and ranking of stands for seed collection, as well as for genetic improvement.