Ocorrência, distribuição geográfica e estudo fenológico de Camu-camuzeiro (Myrciaria dubia (H.B.K.) Mc Vaugh no estado de Roraima

Abstract

The camu-camu (Myrciaria dubia) is a representative of the family Myrtaceae, one of the botanical families most important to fruit growing and which is part of several communities of the Brazilian vegetation. M. dubiais anAmazonian plant, found most often in thePeruvian Amazon. The species possesses fruits with a high content of vitamin C, the pulp being utilized in the pharmacological industry, cosmetic and nutritional industry. It is apoorlystudied species andthatstill there is need of studies for better understanding of thisspecies as to its diversity. Under this context, this work as intended to verify the occurrence and distribution of the camu-camu in the state of Roraima and characterize thefruit setphenology of this species in its natural area. Forthe record of the occurrence, distribution and georeferencing of the species, excursions for the prospecting of the native populations of camu-camu were carried out in all the municipalities of Roraima in the years of 2010 to2012. Also, the fruit set phenology of the camu-camu was evaluated on Lago da Morena, situatedin the municipality of Cantá-RR over the period of Decemberof 2010 to April of 2011. For thefulfillmentof this study, camu-camu plants distributed inside the population were randomly chosen and these were marked and recorded and monitored weekly. About 4 thousand inflorescences whichwere at the post-anthesisstage were marked and from the 9th week of this phase, the fruit development was evaluated. Parallelly, there was a physical andchemical evaluation of the fruits till the16th week when they reached maturation. The occurrence of native populations of camu-camu was recorded in eight municipalities, Normandia, Bonfim, Amajari, Boa Vista, Cantá, Caracaraí, Caroebe and Rorainópolis, those plants being found on the banks of the main rivers and their affluents of the state and in several sorts of soils and non-forest, forest systems and transition areas, showing that the species present a good adaptation and rusticity. It was found that under the conditions of the Morena Lake, the camu-camu has a cycle of total maturation of 102 days post-anthesis, wherebythey reach their maximum growth point at84 days, so obtaining a phonological scale with 98 fruit set stages for the species.