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Collection of castor-oil plant germoplasm (Ricinus communis L.) in two municipalities of Arauca, Colombia
Authors: Carlos Iván Cardozo Conde & César Augusto Posada Tique
Number of views: 369
Ricinus communis L., commonly known as the castor-
oil plant, is important for its use in biofuels production.
With the objective of learning about its current
status, in 40 villages influential to the oil complex of
Caricare (municipality of Arauquita) and Caño Limón
(municipality of Arauca) in Arauca, Colombia (where
five years earlier the crop had been established), a
collection of sexual seed was carried out between
December 2011 and January 2012. The variables
studied include passport data as a collection resource,
local name, relief, and soil type among others.
A Garmin map76CSx was used in order to identify
the transects and record data such as geographic
location and elevation. Simple descriptive statistics
were used to identify the variables of greatest variation. Using the qualitative variables of greatest importance, a contingency table analysis with a significance level of 5%, a multiple correspondence analysis(MCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were
performed for quantitative and qualitative variables,
in addition to a classification analysis through a similarity matrix. The castor-oil plant was found in 25%
of the villages visited. 12 introductions were collected,
four from Caricare and eight from Caño Limón.
Although the environmental conditions were favorable
for its cultivation, there are no castor-oil plant
crops in the locations visited. The absence of grain
commercialization and oil extraction equipment is
the main limiting factor. A garden was established
using collected materials for the purpose of research,
breeding and propagation.