As we face climate change, understanding crop diversity has become fundamental in order to secure food sovereignty. It is not enough to just understand the biology and ecology of crops, but the economy and cultural diversity associated to them as well. Studies on domestication are usually made from a genetic, environmental or cultural point of view, but seldom address the questions from an integrative approach. Mesoamerica is one of the centers of origin of many domesticated plants, one or which is the common chili pepper, Capsicum annuum. So, how are the environmental conditions and some socioeconomic factors related to the morphological diversity of Capsicum annuum landraces in four different regions of the southern State of Oaxaca, Mexico?
To answer this question we realized semistructured interviews to chili pepper producers regarding: a) the use of each landrace; b) fruit and seed selection; c) agricultural management and d) commercialization of each landrace. We obtained environmental data such as temperature, precipitation, altitude and soil characteristics of each of the sampling sites, and took fruit samples from all of the landraces found and measured the height and number of fruits of each plant. We then realized morphometrics to the fruits gathered.
Results/Conclusions
The environmental variables that play an important role in the cultivation of Capiscum annuumin the four regions of Oaxaca are altitude, temperature and soil pH and texture. The variables that most contribute to the morphological variation of the chili pepper landraces were the perimeter, width and curved height of the fruits, as well as the number of fruits and height of the plants. Considering the traits of the domestication syndrome of cultivated plants, we propose a domestication gradient of the landraces found. There seems to be a strong relationship between the degree of domestication and its management practices and uses. Results also showed that commercialization plays a mayor role in determining which landraces are grown in each region of Oaxaca.