Industrial Crops and Products 51 (2013) 258–266 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Industrial Crops and Products journa l h om epa ge: www.elsevier.com/locate/indcrop Seed germination and estimates of genetic parameters of promising macaw palm (Acrocomia aculeata) progenies for biofuel production Luiz Henrique Chorfi Berton a,c , Joaquim Adelino de Azevedo Filho b , Walter José Siqueira a , Carlos Augusto Colombo a,∗ a Instituto Agronômico de Campinas – Centro de Recursos Genéticos Vegetais, Avenida Theodureto A. Camargo, 1500 Campinas, SP, Brazil b Agência Paulista de Tecnologia dos Agronegócios – Rodovia Taufic Nacifi, Km 03, Monte Alegre do Sul, SP, Brazil c Graduate Program in Tropical and Sub-Tropical Agriculture – Instituto Agronômico de Campinas, Brazil a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 27 July 2013 Received in revised form 15 September 2013 Accepted 17 September 2013 Keywords: Genetic diversity Oil palm Heritability Genetic improvement Biodiesel Genetic gains Correlations a b s t r a c t The percentage and speed of germination and the vigor of Acrocomia aculeata seedlings during early development can be important for obtaining seedlings for the commercial cultivation of this palm. Thus, the variation in germination and vegetative traits was studied in 63 A. aculeata half-sib progenies con- sidered promising for biodiesel production, which originated from natural populations in the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais. The seeds were weighed on an analytical balance and subsequently received pre-germination treatments. A randomized block design was employed at sowing, with two replicates and plots of 128 seeds. The traits evaluated were germination percentage and germination speed index. After germination and seedling transplantation to plastic bags in agricultural greenhouse conditions, the following biometric traits were measured: plant height, number of leaves, stem diameter and number of spines. Analysis of variance was performed, means were tested, and the heritability and correlation between traits were calculated for all evaluated traits. The mean germination percentage obtained was 59.07%, ranging from 19.14% to 98.64%. The mean germination speed index was 1.51, ranging from 0.34 to 3.39. Positive genetic correlations were observed for all traits, as well as high heritability. The eval- uated A. aculeata progenies showed great genetic variability, demonstrating that successful selection of superior progenies is possible. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Biofuels are of great interest globally, especially due to the efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated by the use of petroleum-based compounds. Countries such as Brazil, with a tradition of supplying renewable energy from sugarcane and with extensive land availability, play a fundamental role in the pro- duction of biofuels. However, the challenge is to reconcile the expansion of areas for the production of food, oil plants and forest products with an orderly and sustainable use of agricultural space to meet the current and future demand for biofuels. Among the forest species that could produce biodiesel, native and exotic palms have a wide potential use. The macaw palm, Acro- comia aculeata (Jacq) Lodd. ex Mart. (Arecaceae), locally known as “macaúba”, is native to Brazil and is widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical Americas (Henderson et al., 1995; Lorenzi, 2010). A. aculeata is reputed to be one of the best alternatives for ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +55 19 992290322. E-mail addresses: ccolombo@iac.sp.gov.br, iac.colombo@gmail.com (C.A. Colombo). the production of biofuels because of its high productivity and har- diness (Hiane et al., 2005; Teixeira, 2005; Bandeira, 2008). A. aculeata is a species that is widely used popularly and is best known for the properties of its fruit oil, concentrated in the mesocarp and nut, with varied and numerous applications in the industrial and energy sectors, serving different consumer markets (Fortes and Baugh, 2004; Bora and Rocha, 2004). The biodiesel derived from the A. aculeata pulp oil is primarily composed of intermediate alkyl esters (16- and 18-carbon fatty acid chains) comprising greater than 50% monounsaturated alkyl esters and approximately 25% esters from palmitic acid (Coimbra and Jorge, 2012). Therefore, when considering the thermo-oxidative stability and viscosity related to the chemical composition, the esters from the pulp oil of A. aculeata are an interesting raw material for biodiesel production (Basso et al., 2013). The residual cake of the fruit oil extraction is used in animal feed and may also be employed as an effective filter in the adsorption of dye waste in chemical industrial effluents (Vieira et al., 2012). As with other palms, the endocarp of macaw palm may also be used as charcoal because it has a high calorific value due to the high lignin content (Silva et al., 1986; Emmerich and Luengo, 1996; Mozammel et al., 2002; Teixeira, 2008). 0926-6690/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2013.09.012