LAUSR

The species Araucaria angustifolia Bertol. is native from Brazil, and it is now an endangered species due to the anthropic actions for several years. The objective of this study was to evaluate the genetic variability of Araucaria angustifolia based on initial growth qualitative and quantitative variables in a provenance and progeny test. Based on this performance, the genotypes with higher presence of superior characteristics were selected, to subsidize the formation of seed orchards. The matrices from Guarapuava-PR and Palmeira-SC were chosen according to their biometric and morphometric characteristics. Each matrix received a control code card. The matrices trees were assessed according to dendrometric and sanitary characteristics, and the harvested pine cones were evaluated for their weight, volume, and sanity. A total of 14 matrices from Palmeira-SC and 10 matrices from Guarapuava-PR were selected. The pinecones from each selected matrix were evaluated by quantitative characters. The seeds of these pineconeswere separated according to matrix tree, and they were used in the experiment to evaluatethe emergency and initial growth among genotypes.All the statistical analyses were conducted in a computational application about genetics –GENES® and on the software R Studio. It was verified that there is genetic variability among the provenances and progenies for most of the quantitative characters studied for A. angustifolia , and thus, there is also the possibility of obtaining gains through selection among and within the provenances. The selection among and within the provenances suggests that it is possible to reach significant genetic gains, especially for weight and diameter of pine cones, weight, and number of seeds per pinecone, and tree growth.