Morphological diversity and relationship among cashew (Anacardium occidentale L) individuals in three districts of Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L), a species belonging to the family Anacardiaceae, has been cultivated throughout most of Indonesia’s areas and has become a priority commodity in Southeast Sulawesi for years. However, the information about its variation on morphology and relationship among individuals are still limited. This study aimed to determine the morphological variations and relationships among cashew individuals in three districts (Konawe, South Konawe, and East Kolaka) of Southeast Sulawesi. As many as ninety individuals were analyzed on 15 morphological variables for the variations and 47 variables using the complete linkage method based on Gower distance for the clustering. The coefficients of variation were varied on all evaluated variables. The highest was the height of main branches (cm), ranging from 47.32 % to 73.72 %. Meanwhile, nut length had the lowest coefficient of variation (6.75%-7.99%). The individuals were divided into two main clusters with two sub-clusters for each cluster.

EVALUATION OF GENOME SIMILARITIES USING INDEPENDENT COMPONENTS

We propose the use of independent component analysis to find similarities of genomes. Considering different numbers of independent components, the complete linkage method was used to identify groups based on the estimated coefficients of the mixing matrix. The sequences analyzed correspond to the strains of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome, ten sequences were analyzed, obtained from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI, 2017). The GC-content of each sequence was evaluated using a sliding window of 10,000 bases. The clustering analysis using the independent components of the analyzed sequences was essential to verify the dissimilarity of the sequences.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE MULTIFUNCTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL AREAS WITH DIVERSIFIED NATURAL POTENTIAL

The article assesses the natural conditions for the development of entrepreneurship, which is the basic determinant of the multifunctional development of a given territory. Achieving the objective formulated in this way, the answers to the following questions were sought: how do natural conditions, especially those considered valuable in terms of nature, affect the development of entrepreneurship – the dynamics and the structure of enterprises; do they favour diversification of economic entities and multifunctional development; how does the development of entrepreneurship translate into the use of endogenous resources of a given territory, into social processes (migration, unemployment, average wages)? The research (2012-2017) covered the region of Podkarpacie, with particular emphasis on counties with the highest and lowest share of natural value areas. The delimitation of counties was performed with the use of the complete linkage method, which allows one to distinguish subsets characterized by high internal similarity due to the adopted features. The research showed that natural values did not constitute an asset for the multifunctional development of these areas. This concerns both the development of the SME sector (the dynamics of the sector is lower than in the whole region and the compared group of counties) and the use of environmental values for the development of organic production - a clear decrease in the number of farms and the area of organic crops. The consequence of this is limited use of endogenous potential – high unemployment and high migration. This demonstrates the low effectiveness of cohesion policy and carries a high risk of depopulation of these areas, with all the complexity of such a process.

AN ELECTROPHORETIC COMPARISON OF CULTIVATED MEMBERS OF THE CUCURBITACEAE

Thirty-eight cultivated accessions of the diverse Cucurbitaceae were electrophoretically surveyed using 13 enzyme systems. Included were representatives from 6 of the 6 Cucurbitaceae tribes, 9 genera, and 17 species. Additionally, several cultivars or groups were included for those species possessing marked morphological diversity such as the 7 groups of Cucumis melo var. melo and 7 of the numerous cultivars representing Cucurbita pepo. Zymograms were scored for the presence or absence of bands measured in mm from the origin. Cluster analysis (complete linkage method) was used to detect affinities among the accession surveyed. Data suggest that: 1) Cucumis melo (x=12) possessed greater biochemical affinity with C. sativus (x=7) than with either C. anguira or C. metuliferus (both x=12); 2) Sechium edule and Cyclanthera pedata. both members of the tribe Sicyeae, were more closely associated with members of other tribes than with each other; 3) Some cultivars of Cucurbita pepo shared greater affinity with Cucurbita moschata than with other cultivars of C. pepo. Additional observations as well as their possible implications will be presented.