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Project information
»The problem
In Mexico, many small farmers manage to feed their own families
by working marginally productive lands. Some of their crops
evolved from local native wild plants and are genetically
diverse. These landraces hold critical genetic resources that
could be used to improve the performance of these crops, thereby
giving incentives for farmers to conserve their local varieties.
Improved crop varieties could, in turn, further benefit these
farmers by producing higher yields.
»The approach
The project, supported by The McKnight Foundation from 1995-2002,
focuses on the multicrop milpa system, including maize, beans,
squash, and quelites (plants harvested for green consumption).
Scientists are integrating genetic and plant breeding research
with the knowledge of local farmers and taking into account
socioeconomic factors relevant to their lives and livelihoods.
Farmers themselves are participating in the selection of improved
types on their own farms under the guidance of scientists.
Since both wild and cultivated forms of crops grow in the
same areas in Mexico, investigators are looking at whether
wild progenitors naturally hybridize with the cultivated varieties,
suggesting potential for genetic change in the local varieties.
Landraces have been collected from farmers fields for study
and ex situ conservation.
»The goal
The project seeks both to conserve native crop varieties and
to increase productivity of the multicrop milpa system.
 Project
summary
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Investigators
Principal Investigator
Dr. Robert A. Bye, Jr., Universidad
Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), Mexico
Dr. Calvin O. Qualset, University
of California Davis (UC Davis), Irvine, California
Associates
Dr. Stephen B. Brush, UC
Davis , Irvine, California
Dr. Alfonso O. Delgado, UNAM,
Mexico
Dr. Paul Gepts, UC
Davis , Irvine, California
Dra. Cristina Mapes, UNAM,
Mexico
Dr. Miguel Angel Martinez, UNAM,
Mexico
Dr. Eduard Taylor, UC
Davis , Irvine, California
Collaborators
Dr. Fernando Castillo-Gonzalez, Colegio de Postgraduados (CP),
Mexico
Dr. Porfirio Ramirez, CP, Mexico
Dr. Angel Kato, CP, Mexico
Dr. Rafael Ortega Paczka, Universidad
Autonoma Chapingo (UACh)
Dr. Clemente Villanueva Verduzco, UACh
Dr. Jorge Acosta, Instituto Nacional
de Investigaciones Forestales
Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP), Valle de Mexico Experimental
Station
Dr. Jose de Jesus Sanchez, INIFAP,
Guadalajara, Mexico
Dr. Antonio Yunez-Naude, College
of Mexico, Mexico City
Dr. Major M. Goodman, North
Carolina State University, Raleigh
Dr. Laura C. Merrick, Iowa
State University, Ames
Dr. Margaret E. Smith, Cornell
University, Ithaca, New York
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