Abstract
Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is a pseudocereal originated from the Andes important for small farmers’ food security as well as for commercial production. Recently, it has been claimed that in Bolivia genetic erosion could result from the marginalization of the crop in the north and from its commercial standardization in the south. The aim of this study was to quantify the hierarchical structure of the genetic variation present in eight quinoa field populations, consisting of cultivated and weedy individuals, representative of the altiplano and interandean valleys of Bolivia. Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA markers show that quinoa has a strong population structure and a high intra-population variation. An effect of geographical structure of the populations was highlighted, due to population isolation, not simply linked to distance but more probably to climatic and orographic barriers present in the studied zone. The population structure is also reinforced by the limited seed exchanges among farmers as revealed by field interviews. This population structure appears related to three major biogeographic zones: the northern and central altiplano, the interandean valley, and the southern Salar. Intrapopulation genetic diversity was higher than that expected for a mainly autogamous species, and higher than that reported in anterior studies based on germplasm collections. These results are commented in view of current knowledge on phylogeny and reproductive biology of the species, and their implications regarding genetic resources management are discussed.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the Bolivian farmers and extension agents met during our prospections for the generous provision of quinoa material. We also thank Gaëtan Rochez for its skillful assistance in the laboratory, and Sam Geerts for improving the quality of the text. This work was co-financed by the “Institut de Recherche pour le Développement” (IRD, french institute of scientific cooperation) and the “Faculté Universitaire des Sciences Agronomiques” of Gembloux (Belgium). CDC gratefully acknowledges the support of a doctoral grant of the “Département Soutien et Formation” of the IRD.
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del Castillo, C., Winkel, T., Mahy, G. et al. Genetic structure of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) from the Bolivian altiplano as revealed by RAPD markers. Genet Resour Crop Evol 54, 897–905 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-006-9151-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-006-9151-z