GERMPLASM OF FRUIT CROPS

The fruit growing is a very important segment of the agro-business, contributing with significant ciphers to both international and national production. Brazil is one of the principal producing countries of fruits of the world. This position of distinction is due to several factors, like the high diversity of climate and high diversity of fruit species that our country shows off, the voracious home market, among others, but principally for the programs of improvement succeeded well, what take the genetic existent variability as a raw material in the banks of germplasm. The Embrapa disposes of a network of gene banks of fruit crops distributed in all the regions of the country, this network is complemented by the enterprises and state institutes of agricultural research and for some federal and state universities. For the principal fruit species, specially for of tropical and subtropical climate, Brazil detains the biggest and best gene banks of the world, such as: pineapple, banana, citrus, passion fruit, grapevine, among many others species. These gene banks are dynamic and they are constantly in processes of enrichment, characterization and evaluation, and principally use in the breeding programs of each fruit crop.