Abstract
Although consumers appreciate the genetic diversity among tomato landraces, traditional varieties have been displaced from commercial agriculture. Their cultivation through organic farming in natural parks can contribute to their resurgence. With this aim, we developed a participatory plant breeding (PPB) program in Collserola Natural Park (Barcelona, Spain) to promote the conservation of the Mando landrace and to obtain new varieties adapted to local organic farms. Taking advantage of the natural genetic variation from the variety’s high cross-pollination rate, farmers developed five experimental inbreeds that were tested in a multi-locality trial in 2018. As a result of the PPB program, cultivation of the original landrace increased from 80 plants in 2011 to more than 2000 plants in 2018, which protected the variety from genetic erosion. Locality was the factor that contributed mostly to agronomic traits (e.g., yield (66% of the phenotypic variance)), while the genotype contributed more to the quality traits (except for soluble solids (37%) and dry matter (38%)). Farmer evaluations were highly correlated with the phenotypic traits recorded by researchers (Pearson coefficient ranging from 0.63–0.83), and led to the same final varietal selection. The superior inbred selected (3.9) is now being cultivated in the area of study. This paper discusses the efficiency of PPB in guiding the evolution of landraces.
Highlights
Recent years have seen an increase in organic farmers’ interest in participatory plant breeding (PPB), where farmers and scientists work together to share knowledge to increase the efficiency of the process [1]
We report the results of a seven-year PPB program with the endangered tomato landrace Mandó de Collserola (Mando) and analyzed the evolution of the landrace under the effects of the PPB
Tomato landraces are susceptible to the viruses that can affect tomato crops [27], which makes it unviable to cultivate them in intensive horticultural areas
Summary
Recent years have seen an increase in organic farmers’ interest in participatory plant breeding (PPB), where farmers and scientists work together to share knowledge to increase the efficiency of the process [1]. PPB was initially developed for low-input agro-systems in developing countries to breed varieties adapted to these environments and to increase the rate of adoption of cultivars by small farmers [2]. This approach is being used to develop new varieties adapted to organic farms [3], which need specific ideotypes [4]. Unlike conventional plant breeding focused on selecting genotypes with ‘broad adaptability,’ PPB can develop varieties adapted to local environments. This ‘specific adaptability’ confers important advantages for organic farming. Performing the selection cycles in the agro-systems where the varieties will be cultivated makes it possible to identify advantageous genotype-by-environment (G × E) interactions that would be discarded in conventional breeding [5]
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