Morphological variation and domestication of Escontria chiotilla (Cactaceae) under silvicultural management in the Tehuacán Valley, Central Mexico

Abstract

People of the Tehuacan Valley, Central Mexico utilise the columnar cactus Escontria chiotilla for their edible fruits, gathering them in the wild and in silviculturally managed populations. Silvicultural management consists in sparing and enhancing selectively, in disturbed areas, individual trees producing fruits of the better quality for consumption and commercialisation. Fruits of trees in silviculturally managed populations are generally larger (27.23 ± 0.39 cm) and heavier (11.10 ± 0.44 g), with a higher amount of pulp (4.84 ± 0.27 g), and more (532.72 ± 15.60) and heavier (0.78 ± 0.013 mg) seeds than in wild non-manipulated populations (22.62 ± 0.31 cm, 6.44 ± 0.22 g, 2.33 ± 0.11 g, 407.63 ± 20.67, and 0.62 ± 0.015 mg, respectively). Phenotypes of trees producing better fruits were significantly more abundant in manipulated populations than in the non-manipulated ones. Artificial selection appears to be the cause of such differences among populations and, therefore, domestication process of this plant species is seemingly occurring under silvicultural management.