Indigenous knowledge and traditional conservation of hulless barley (Hordeum vulgare) germplasm resources in the Tibetan communities of Shangri-la, Yunnan, SW China

Abstract

Hulless barley (Hordeum vulgare L. s. l.) is the staple food crop of Tibetan communities in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, covering Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in China. Participatory Rural Appraisal methodolgies were employed in twenty-seven villages that were randomly selected in Shangri-la region, or Diqing Prefecture of Yunnan Province to document the ethnobotanical and indigenous knowledge related to the production, diversity, use and conservation of hulless barley. For Tibetans in Shangri-la, the crop has a high socio-cultural value. The genetic diversity of landraces managed by the farmers in Shangri-la is an extremely important germplasm resource. We recorded a total of 54 landraces that are primarily described by farmers based on their cooking quality, growth cycle, color and size of the grains. The ethnobotanical and indigenous knowledge recorded in this study contributes to the understanding of the genetic diversity of hulless barley in Shangri-la and even in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and in defining appropriate strategies for its conservation on farm.