The premise that greater heterosis effects may be obtained from
crosses between parents of higher genetic divergence is supported
by several authors (Alzate-Marin et al., 2003; Palomino et al.,
2005). Therefore, crossings involving genotypically distant accessions
displaying complementary agricultural characteristics
valued by the market would more likely be successful, especially
for quantitative traits controlled by additive and over-dominant
genes. The accession Gunda, for example, is noteworthy due to its
strong genetic divergence in comparison to the remaining
commercial genotypes. Moreover, the species G. jamesonii can
be easily cloned or vegetatively propagated which guarantees the
immediate fixation of the genotype obtained from the crosses