Phenotypic diversity of Amaranthus quitensis Kunth landraces: A millenary crop of Ecuadorian Andean region

Abstract

The black amaranth (Amaranthus quitensis Kunth) is traditionally cultivated in the Ecuadorian highlands, where it has great social, cultural and food importance for the native population, and locally it is called ataco or sangorache. Currently, there are no data on the diversity and conservation status in which the ataco landraces are found. We have evaluated the phenotypic diversity of black amaranth landraces collected at two different times (1981-1986 and 2014-2015) in three representative Andean provinces for this crop (Imbabura, Tungurahua and Cañar). Thirty agro-morphological descriptors were used, 11 quantitative and 19 qualitative. Most of the quantitative traits showed high levels of variation, especially grain yield per plant. The qualitative traits showed less diversity, although the characters related to the plant pigmentation and the shape and attitude of the inflorescence were significantly discriminating between accessions from different provinces. Few significant differences were detected between both collects, so the farmers seem to be carrying out adequate on-farm conservation of the ataco germplasm. The agro-morphological information obtained in this study may be useful for enhancing the use of this plant genetic resource in future amaranth breeding programs, as well as for effectively managing the black amaranth collection from Germplasm Bank of the Ecuadorian National Institute for Agricultural Research (INIAP).

Genetic Diversity of Black Amaranth (Amaranthus quitensis Kunth) Landraces of Ecuadorian Highlands: Association Genotypes—Color Morphotypes

“…In the present study, we found low levels of genetic diversity. These results coincide with the reduced phenotypic diversity observed in the previous agromorphological characterization of these landraces [32].…”

“…When comparing the results of genetic diversity for different collections and provinces with those previously obtained of phenotypic diversity [32], we found that in both cases practically no significant differences were detected between the two collections. Therefore, all these results indicate that the biodiversity of the black amaranth landraces does not seem to have undergone many significant changes in the last four decades, which would mean that local farmers would have carried out an acceptable conservation in situ (on-farm) of this germplasm.…”

“…These accessions were purchased at the Germplasm Bank (GB) of the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INIAP) in Pichincha, Ecuador. The INIAP-GB codes are indicated in Supplementary Table S1, and all passport data are found in Delgado et al [32].…”

“…However, when the comparative analysis between collections is carried out by provinces, significant differences can be observed between them, just as they were observed in relation to the phenotypic diversity found for the quantitative characters analyzed [32]. These differences between provinces could be related to socioeconomic circumstances, crop management, and traditional uses of ataco in each of the provinces [12,23,32,68].…”

“…Subsequently, that information on morphological diversity was used to generate a core collection [31]. Recently, Delgado et al [32] have characterized the phenotypic diversity of ataco landraces collected during 2014-2015 in three provinces of the Ecuadorian highlands that have a greater representation of this crop (Imbabura, Tungurahua, and Cañar), comparing it with the agromorphological diversity of accessions collected in the early 1980s in the same provinces.…”