Diversity and structure of landraces of Agave grown for spirits under traditional agriculture: A comparison with wild populations of A. angustifolia (Agavaceae) and commercial plantations of A. tequilana

Traditional farming communities frequently maintain high levels of agrobiodiversity, so understanding their agricultural practices is a priority for biodiversity conservation. The cultural origin of agave spirits (mezcals) from west-central Mexico is in the southern part of the state of Jalisco wher...

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Published inAmerican journal of botany Vol. 96; no. 2; pp. 448 - 457
Main Authors Vargas-Ponce, Ofelia, Zizumbo-Villarreal, Daniel, Martínez-Castillo, Jaime, Coello-Coello, Julián, Colunga-GarcíaMarín, Patricia
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Botanical Society of America 01.02.2009
Botanical Soc America
Botanical Society of America, Inc
Subjects
Agave angustifolia
agave spirits
Agriculture
Agroecosystems
Bayesian analysis
Botany
Comparative analysis
Conservation
Ecological genetics
Ecology
Evolution
Evolutionary genetics
Flowers & plants
Food crops
Genetic diversity
genetic structure
germplasm conservation
in situ management
mezcal
Plants
Population genetics
Population growth
Tequila
traditional landraces
Mexico
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Summary:Traditional farming communities frequently maintain high levels of agrobiodiversity, so understanding their agricultural practices is a priority for biodiversity conservation. The cultural origin of agave spirits (mezcals) from west-central Mexico is in the southern part of the state of Jalisco where traditional farmers cultivate more than 20 landraces of Agave angustifolia Haw. in agroecosystems that include in situ management of wild populations. These systems, rooted in a 9000-year-old tradition of using agaves as food in Mesoamerica, are endangered by the expansion of commercial monoculture plantations of the blue agave variety (A. tequilana Weber var. Azul), the only agave certified for sale as tequila, the best-known mezcal. Using intersimple sequence repeats and Bayesian estimators of diversity and structure, we found that A. angustifolia traditional landraces had a genetic diversity (HBT = 0.442) similar to its wild populations (HBT = 0.428) and a higher genetic structure ({theta}B = 0.405; {theta}B =0. 212). In contrast, the genetic diversity in the blue agave commercial system (HB = 0.118) was 73% lower. Changes to agave spirits certification laws to allow the conservation of current genetic, ecological and cultural diversity can play a key role in the preservation of the traditional agroecosystems.
Bibliography:This research is part of O.V‐P.'s Ph.D. dissertation in the Diversity, Ethnobotany and Evolution of Plant Genetic Resources Laboratory at CICY. The authors thank A. García‐Mendoza for taxonomic identification; A. Galván, F. Santana, R. Nieto, and J. Rosales for fieldwork help; F. May and M. Guisazola for laboratory assistance; K. E. Holsinger for answers to Hickory program questions; L. Eguiarte for molecular analysis advice; P. Gepts for hospitality at UC Davis during P.C‐GM. and D.Z‐V.'s sabbatical; PROMEP for O.V‐P.'s scholarship; SINAREFI‐SAGARPA (P‐007) and CONABIO (P‐CS007) for financial research grants; A. Casas and two anonymous reviewers for comments that improved the manuscript; and B. Hazen, S. Repinski, and K. Kraft for help reviewing the English. The authors also thank the traditional mezcal growers from southern Jalisco for sharing their knowledge and for their courage in preserving their genetic resources.
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ISSN:0002-9122
1537-2197
DOI:10.3732/ajb.0800176