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.)

Perceptions of agrodiversity and seed-saving practices in the northern Andes of Ecuador

“…Narratives produced during the interviews lead us to suggest that this behavior responds to a blurry frontier between community and family assets in the study area. This result reveals that the seed system is fairly local, as has been previously described for Amazonian [44] and Andean communities [48].…”

“…There is extensive gray literature from development projects and practical experience from rural Latin America, as described by Bellon et al [46]. Furthermore, the impact of farmers’ practices on genetic diversity, evolution, and strategies for seed conservation have been discussed for emblematic crops like Zea mays [33, 47]; nevertheless, seed flows from minor Andean crops have been less covered [48]. Additionally, traditional practices of seed exchange have been reported as social mechanisms that affect the genetic diversity of crops by acting as a selective force in crops such as Zea mays and Oxalis tuberosa in Mexico and the Andes region, respectively [33, 36, 39, 42, 44, 47–49].…”

Unearthing Unevenness of Potato Seed Networks in the High Andes: A Comparison of Distinct Cultivar Groups and Farmer Types Following Seasons With and Without Acute Stress

“…Excluding the intraspecific diversity contained in chaqru mixtures, these twelve cosmopolitan cultivars represented nearly half of the total cultivar diversity registered across seasons. The market-oriented prioritization and wide circulation of a limited number of landraces while most intraspecific diversity remains constrained to few households and incidences of seed diffusion was also found by Kawa et al (2013) and Bonnave et al (2016) in their studies of manioc (Manihot esculenta) and oca (Oxalis tuberosa) varietal diversity in farmer networks. Therefore, the bulk of seed transactions involve few cultivar groups and a reduced portfolio of cultivars.…”

“…They are, in a sense, the primary reservoirs of the intraspecific diversity inherent in chaqru mixtures (De Haan, 2009). Subedi et al (2003) and Bonnave et al (2016) have referred to such farmers as "nodal" or "guardian" due to their important role in the maintenance and flow of a large diversity of genetic material in the context of rice (Oryza sativa) and oca (Oxalis tuberosa) seed systems. Once demand following seed stress drove seed prices up custodians seized the opportunity to also sell seed of non-commercial floury landraces (single cultivars).…”

“…The application of social network analysis is particularly relevant and useful to the study of the seed exchange dynamics underlying crop landrace and genetic diversity (Delêtre et al, 2011;Bonnave et al, 2016;Labeyrie et al, 2016). However, in-depth investigations of farmer seed systems through social network approaches have largely remained constrained to the village-level and only partially addressed distinct farmer types and cultivar groups involved (Abay et al, 2011;Ricciardi, 2015).…”