EDITORIAL

Using potato’s wild relatives to increase genetic diversity within crops

Uso de parientes silvestres de la papa para aumentar la diversidad genética dentro de los cultivos

Jiménez, Emili Antonia

Jiménez, Emili Antonia

miliejz86@gmail.com

Universidad Mayor de San Andrés Bolivia

Journal of the Selva Andina Biosphere

Selva Andina Research Society, Bolivia

ISSN: 2308-3867

Periodicity: Bianual

vol. 10, no. 2, 2022

directoreditorbiosphere@gmail.com

URL: http://portal.amelica.org/ameli/journal/71/713755713755002/

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36610/j.jsab.2022.100200066x

Selva Andina Research Society

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Crops are products of artificial evolutionary processes, which results from the genotype manipulation of plants with some nutritional or economic value for human ¹ . As a result, genetic variability is lost over the time, and features such as flower and seed production, and also defense mechanisms are also lost ² . Although, in agriculture these characteristics may not be relevant to plant survival, the decrease in genetic variability leads to diseases, null stress tolerance and reduced nutritional value. Becoming a concern for farmers and leading us to the question: What can we do to conserve genetic diversity within crops?

One of the most widely used ways to increase genetic variability is to hybridize cultivated species with their wild relatives. In potato’s (Solanum tuberosum) case, there are approximately 110 wild relatives, 34 of which are native to Bolivia and 21 are endemic ³ . There are also 12 species records with some risk category ⁴ . These species are not edible, but are resistant to pests like fungus Phytophthora infestans and the nematode Globodera pallida ⁴ , similarly, these wild potatoes are resistant to drought and have the ability to grow in poor and stony soils. ⁴

Potato research focuses on increasing and maintaining the size and quality of tubers, while enhancing other characteristics (resistance to pests, diseases and abiotic conditions). For example, hybridization tests between Solanum berthaultii and Solanum microdontum were found to maintain the agronomic quality in the product with a reduced tuber size ⁵ . Likewise, experiments were conducted with S. albornozii, S. andreanum, S. lesteri, S. longiconicum, S. morelliforme, S. stenophyllidium, S. mochiquense, S. cajamarquense, and S. huancabambense to improve the resistance to the fungus P. infestans 6 . But in Bolivia, what is the research status of potato wild relatives?

As one of the potato origin centers, Bolivia has a great diversity of cultivable varieties ⁷ . It is known at least 500 varieties used for consumption and added to the diversity of wild relatives, we have more than 600 species of the genus Solanum that produce tubers. Becoming Bolivia an important country for the conservation of the genetic diversity of potato crops. Unfortunately, few experimental studies on the subject are conducted in Bolivia, and most research is descriptive of morphology, ecology, and usage of potato wild relatives. This leaves us with important information gaps that would help in the improvement.

Jiménez Emili Antonia

Universidad Mayor de San Andrés

Institute of Ecology

Botanical Garden of La Paz

Casilla 10077-Correo Central

La Paz, Plurinational State of Bolivia

E-mail: miliejz86@gmail.com

2022. Journal of the Selva Andina Biosphere.. Bolivia. All rights reserved.

Literatura citada

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Notes

Conflicts of interest: This publication has no conflicts of interest with any public or private entity.

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Ethical considerations: For the presentation of this document, previously published bibliographic material was consulted.

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