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Research Project
Morphological, physiological, and molecular characterisation, and conservation of wheat and maize traditional cultivars from the Madeira
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Morphological characterization of wheat genetic resources from the Island of Madeira, Portugal
Publication . Santos, Teresa M. M.; Ganança, Filipe; Slaski, Jan J.; Carvalho, Miguel Aˆ . A. Pinheiro de
This paper presents the first comprehensive morphological characterization and identification
of the wheat populations collected on the Archipelago of Madeira and preserved at the ISOPlexis
Germplasm Bank, the University of Madeira, Funchal. Fifty-two wheat populations representing
Madeira’s Triticum diversity and a wide range of
ecological conditions were evaluated based on the
biometrical and cytometrical traits. Forty-six traits
related to plant morphology, cytological and grain
characteristics were included in a multivariate analysis. Taxonomic identification of the collected
materials revealed the presence of 3 species, 2
subspecies and 16 botanical varieties among the
Madeiran wheat germplasm. The obtained results
were confirmed by the multivariate analysis since all
accessions were grouped in clusters corresponding
also to different taxonomic levels. The detailed description of the Madeiran wheat landraces may
contribute also to the protection of the existing
Triticum diversity as well as support efforts of
conservation of landraces, proper germplasm preservation and utilization.
Evaluation of the maize (Zea mays L.) diversity on the Archipelago of Madeira
Publication . Carvalho, Miguel Ângelo A. Pinheiro de; Ganança, José Filipe Teixeira; Abreu, Ivo; Sousa, Nélia F.; Santos, Teresa M. Marques dos; Vieira, Maria Rita Clemente; Motto, Mario
The variability of 43 open-pollinated
populations of maize (Zea mays L.), representing a
wide range of ecological conditions on the Archipelago of Madeira, was evaluated based on the morphological and reproductive traits. Individual data of 41
traits related to earliness, plant and tassel structure
and the shape of the ear and grain were analysed
using multivariate analysis. The populations belonging to two major maize varieties were grouped into
four groups by their degree of dissimilarity, based on
discriminant analysis. The dissimilarity of these
groups was confirmed by the values of the Tukey
test. The racial rank of these groups was proposed
and a brief description of the maize landraces was
presented. This work represents the first morphological characterization and analysis of diversity of
maize germplasm for the Archipelago of Madeira
where the traditional agricultural practices are still
keeping this Portuguese region free from corn
hybrids. The description of the Madeiran corn
landraces allows us to preserve the existing corn biodiversity and could be used for their registration as
conservation landraces or for conservation and
breeding proposes worldwide.
Screening of wheat Landraces from Madeira Island for iron tolerance
Publication . Domingues, Ana Maria; Carvalho, Miguel Ângelo Pinheiro de
Since the fifteen century, the rainfed-cultivation of wheat for grain is traditionally performed on the Island of Madeira. Under several microclimatic conditions and along very sloppy mountains, the landraces are grown on isolated terraces of Andosols with high amounts of iron. Iron oxides are the main inorganic binding agent contributing to the stability of aggregates and to soil fertility in long-term sustainable agriculture in acid and iron-rich soils. After a two day period of seedling initial growth, a screening test of sixty traditional wheat (Triticum spp.) landraces from the ISOPlexis Genebank at the University of Madeira, Funchal, was performed using nutrient solutions containing 10 or 600 mM Fe, during five days, under controlled laboratory conditions. The elongation of the longest primary root was measured for each genotype and the mean root increment relative to control (as, % relative root increment or RRI; n=28) calculated. This parameter appeared to be a sensitive indicator of Fe tolerance in wheat. Over 85% of wheat germplasm showed the RRI higher than 50%, while the RRI of seven accessions exceeded 70%. This indicates that those landraces are Fe tolerant and might be of particular interest for cultivation under acid rich iron soils of tropical and subtropical areas.
Evaluation of maize germplasm based on zein polymorphism from the archipelago of Madeira
Publication . Freitas, I. R. A. de; Ganança, F.; Santos, T. M. dos; Carvalho, M. A. A. Pinheiro de; Motto, M.; Vieira, M. Clemente
Zein polypeptides are a group of proteins
that accumulate in maize endosperm during seed development, representing more than 60% of the total endosperm proteins in the mature seeds. To evaluate genotype variability of Madeiran maize germplasm, a biochemical study was conducted based on the prolamins of
maize, zeins, extracted from endosperm meal of 43 populations of Zea mays L. maintained in the Germplasm bank
of Madeira University along with the inbreed W64A which
was used as a polymorphic zein polypeptide standard
profile. The zein polymorphism of these 44 maize populations were compared using two different electrophoresis
techniques, SDS-PAGE in 15% discontinuous polyacrylamide gel and Acid-PAGE in 10% continuous polyacrylamide gel. SDS-PAGE allowed up to 16 polypeptides to
be identified with apparent molecular mass ranging from
28-kDa to 10-kDa. Acid-PAGE allowed up to 20 zein fractions to be identified. The data was submitted to principal
component analysis (PCA) and canonical discriminate and
similarity analysis. The SDS-PAGE zein polymorphism allowed us to detect 6 groups, assembling all maize populations and explaining 55.32% of all variability. The similarity analysis of zein patterns obtained by Acid-PAGE
showed that among regional maize germplasm, 22.5 % of
all population seems to be related and have a common
ancestor. The ISOP71 seems to be the population more
closed to the common ancestor and appears related with
the remaining maize populations, excluding the ISOP125.The obtained results and the importance of zein polymorphism in the evaluation of maize germplasm from
Madeiran Archipelago are discussed
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Funding agency
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Funding programme
POCI
Funding Award Number
POCTI/AGR/35003/2000