Agro-Morphological Characterization "In situ" of Tamarindus indica L. in the Dry Forest of Ecuador

Tamarind (Tamarindus indica L.) is a species of high economic potential in local markets in Ecuador. This species is mainly used for its nutritional, industrial, medicinal and/or therapeutic attributes, in addition to its use as an ornamental tree. However, scarce information has been generated about this little explored species. In order to identify individuals with outstanding quality and production characteristics, an in situ morphological characterization of 32 individuals was carried out in the provinces of Manabi, Guayas and Loja. Qualitative and quantitative traits were evaluated using descriptive, parametric and multivariate analysis. The date of flowering and harvesting were determined as qualitative discriminant variables; while the discriminant quantitative traits were plant height, seed number per pod, pulp percentage, peel percentage and fruit-rib percentage. Cluster analysis established six groups; however, little variability was observed based on the morphological genetic distance, thus it could indicate that there is a low genetic abundance of T. indica in the dry forest of Ecuador.