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      Longitudinal analysis of maize diversity in Yucatan, Mexico: influence of agro-ecological factors on landraces conservation and modern variety introduction

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          Abstract

          Transformations that farmers bring to their traditional farming systems and their impacts on the conservation and evolution of maize varieties over a 12-year period are investigated using a longitudinal analysis. Despite the increased introduction and supply of improved maize variety seeds in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, over the last 12 years farmers continue to maintain a substantial amount of traditional maize variety diversity. Even with the increased availability of hybrid seeds, farmers in the community of Yaxcaba on average plant more than three quarters of their milpa fields to traditional maize varieties, with the latter one fourth predominately planted to a locally improved variety Nal Xoy, a farm cross of a traditional variety and an improved variety. We observed a significant reduction in yellow – x-Nuuk nal, a long-cycle traditional landrace, paralleled by an increase in short- and intermediate-cycle locally adapted improved maize varieties. We found great differences in the distribution of maize varieties by soil type, with modern varieties being targeted for the rarer, deeper and fine-grained soils, while traditional varieties predominate on the more prevalent stony and thin soils. Our results provide a picture in which most traditional maize varieties in Yaxcaba continue to be maintained by farmers, coexisting with locally adapted improved varieties on the same landscape, and allowing the continued evolution of maize populations.

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          Most cited references31

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          Maize diversity and ethnolinguistic diversity in Chiapas, Mexico.

          The objective of this study is to investigate whether ethnolinguistic diversity influences crop diversity. Factors suggest a correlation between biological diversity of crops and cultural diversity. Although this correlation has been noted, little systematic research has focused on the role of culture in shaping crop diversity. This paper reports on research in the Maya highlands (altitude >1,800 m) of central Chiapas in southern Mexico that examined the distribution of maize (Zea mays) types among communities of two groups, the Tzeltal and Tzotzil. The findings suggest that maize populations are distinct according to ethnolinguistic group. However, a study of isozymes indicates no clear separation of the region's maize into two distinct populations based on ethnolinguistic origin. A reciprocal garden experiment shows that there is adaptation of maize to its environment but that Tzeltal maize sometimes out-yields Tzotzil maize in Tzotzil environments. Because of the proximity of the two groups and selection for yield, we would expect that the superior maize would dominate both groups' maize populations, but we find that such domination is not the case. The role of ethnolinguistic identity in shaping social networks and information exchange is discussed in relation to landrace differentiation.
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            In Situ conservation of maize in Mexico: Genetic diversity and Maize seed management in a traditional community

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              Our vanishing genetic resources.

              J Harlan (1975)
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                applab
                Plant Genetic Resources
                Plant Genet. Resour.
                Cambridge University Press (CUP)
                1479-2621
                1479-263X
                February 2017
                September 2 2015
                February 2017
                : 15
                : 01
                : 51-63
                Article
                10.1017/S1479262115000374
                19ceb028-7d5b-4f3a-8be1-2876a6ef1491
                © 2017
                History

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