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Effect of the management of seed flows and mode of propagation on the genetic diversity in an Andean farming system: the case of oca (Oxalis tuberosa Mol.)

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Abstract

The seed system is a major component of traditional management of crop genetic diversity in developing countries. Seed flows are an important part of this system. They have been poorly studied for minor Andean crops, especially those that are propagated vegetatively. We examine the seed exchanges of Oxalis tuberosa Mol. (oca), a vegetatively propagated crop capable of sexual reproduction. We studied the seed exchanges of four rural communities in Candelaria district (Cochabamba department, Bolivia) at the international and local levels, emphasizing the spread of new sexually-produced genotypes through these exchanges. Interviews with 44 farmers generated socioeconomic, agronomic, crop diversity and seed exchange information, and data on the potential incorporation of new sexually-produced genotypes in the crop germplasm. We interviewed merchants to evaluate the input and output of genetic diversity in the communities studied. Results showed a positive effect of the farmers’ wealth on the diversity cultivated and on seed exchanges. Most seed exchanges occurred at market, creating a distinction between cash and self-consumption landraces. Cash landraces were intensively exchanged; self-consumption landraces were isolated at the farmer level and prone to genetic drift and complete loss. Merchants exported seeds of cash landraces across Bolivia and into Peru and Argentina. New sexually produced genotypes are less incorporated into cash landraces than in self-consumed landraces. However, new genotypes incorporated into cash landraces are diffused faster and better, being more intensively exchanged. We propose conservation strategies that can be applied to other vegetatively propagated and minor Andean crops.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the farmers and merchants who contributed to this study. MB, TB and PB would like to thank Antonio Gandarillas and all the staff of the PROINPA foundation, especially Franz Terrazas, Ximena Cadima, Rhimer Gonzáles and Julio Gabriel. MB acknowledges the support of fellowships from Fonds pour la formation à la Recherche dans l’Industrie et dans l’Agriculture (Fund for Research Training in Industry and Agriculture, Belgium). PB thanks the Conseil de la Recherche of UCL.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth and Life Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Croix du Sud 2 – 11 (L7.05.11), 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Maxime Bonnave, Thomas Bleeckx & Pierre Bertin

  2. Fundación PROINPA (Promoción e Investigación de Productos Andinos), Cochabamba, Bolivia

    Franz Terrazas

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  1. Maxime Bonnave
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Correspondence to Maxime Bonnave.

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Bonnave, M., Bleeckx, T., Terrazas, F. et al. Effect of the management of seed flows and mode of propagation on the genetic diversity in an Andean farming system: the case of oca (Oxalis tuberosa Mol.). Agric Hum Values 33, 673–688 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-015-9646-3

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