EVALUATION OF TEAK ELITES GENOTYPES WITH POTENTIAL FOR CULTIVARE REGISTRATION
Tectona grandis, cultivar protection, forestry sector.
Teak (Tectona grandis) is a forest, arboreal species, belonging to the Lamiaceae family, native to India, responsible for the great forestry advance in Brazil and has a high yield value, it was introduced in Brazil in the mid-70s in the state of Mato Grosso , where it was most widely adopted in this region with a 25-year production cycle, whereas in its region of origin, the production cycle is 70 years, favoring harvest time and subsequent marketing. Although this forest species is widely cultivated in the country, there are still few genetic improvement programs for teak, which aim to select trees with desirable characteristics, such as resistance to pathogens and wood quality. However, there is a shortage of high genetic quality teak plantations, limiting advances in genetic improvement. Morphological characterization is a useful tool for identifying the genetic variability of trees, but there are few studies in this area for teak. Therefore, for commercialization, teak cultivars must be registered in the National Cultivar Registry (RNC) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA). This involves tests to evaluate characteristics established by MAPA, guaranteeing the quality and reliability of cultivars for farmers, providing them with security. In short, this study aims to evaluate teak genotypes and then describe the technical procedures for proving that teak cultivars distinguish themselves from others through distinguishability, homogeneity and stability (DHE) assessments, for cultivar registration. However, the work will be carried out at UNEMAT in the city of Cáceres-MT, 22 morphoagronomic descriptors will be evaluated, in seedlings aged 120 days, and in adult plants aged 2 to 3 years old, observing the different characteristics in these two phases, thus considering their cultivation capacity and quality, in order to contribute to the development of the forestry industry in Brazil.