Genetic divergence of Heliconiaceae species in the Central West Brazil region

The purpose of this study was to describe morphological traits and estimate genetic divergence and parameters between accessions of the genus  Heliconia  sp. from different municipalities in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. A set of 25 traits, 15 quantitative and 10 qualitative were evaluated. The genetic divergence was estimated based on Mahalanobis' distance, with the clustering methods known as Unweighted Pair Group Method using Arithmetic Averages (UPGMA). Genetic variability was observed for all assessed quantitative traits and the accessions were grouped in different classes. The traits with highest relative contribution to variability were longevity of flower stems and inflorescence length. The results indicated the existence of genetic variability among accessions of the  Heliconia sp. germplasm bank, which can be used in breeding programs.