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First published online January 15, 2009; doi:10.3732/ajb.0800176 American Journal of Botany 96: 448-457 (2009) © 2009 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

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Diversity and structure of landraces of Agave grown for spirits under traditional agriculture: A comparison with wild populations of A. angustifolia (Agavaceae) and commercial plantations of A. tequilana¹

² Departamento de Botánica y Zoología, CUCBA, Universidad de Guadalajara, Km. 15.5 carretera Guadalajara-Nogales, Las Agujas, Nextipac, Zapopan, Jalisco, A.P. 1100 México ³ Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, Calle 43 No. 130, Col. Chuburná de Hidalgo 97200 Mérida, Yucatán, México

ABSTRACT

Traditional farming communities frequently maintain high levels of agrobiodiversity, so understanding their agricultural practices is a priority for biodiversity conservation. The cultural origin of agave spirits (mezcals) from west-central Mexico is in the southern part of the state of Jalisco where traditional farmers cultivate more than 20 landraces of Agave angustifolia Haw. in agroecosystems that include in situ management of wild populations. These systems, rooted in a 9000-year-old tradition of using agaves as food in Mesoamerica, are endangered by the expansion of commercial monoculture plantations of the blue agave variety (A. tequilana Weber var. Azul), the only agave certified for sale as tequila, the best-known mezcal. Using intersimple sequence repeats and Bayesian estimators of diversity and structure, we found that A. angustifolia traditional landraces had a genetic diversity (H_BT = 0.442) similar to its wild populations (H_BT = 0.428) and a higher genetic structure (^B = 0.405; ^B =0. 212). In contrast, the genetic diversity in the blue agave commercial system (H_B = 0.118) was 73% lower. Changes to agave spirits certification laws to allow the conservation of current genetic, ecological and cultural diversity can play a key role in the preservation of the traditional agroecosystems.

Key Words: Agave angustifolia • agave spirits • Bayesian analysis • genetic diversity • genetic structure • germplasm conservation • in situ management • mezcal • tequila • traditional landraces

Received for publication 22 May 2008. Accepted for publication 29 October 2008.

FOOTNOTES

¹ This research is part of O.V-P.’s Ph.D. dissertation in the Diversity, Ethnobotany and Evolution of Plant Genetic Resources Laboratory at CICY. The authors thank A. García-Mendoza for taxonomic identification; A. Galván, F. Santana, R. Nieto, and J. Rosales for fieldwork help; F. May and M. Guisazola for laboratory assistance; K. E. Holsinger for answers to Hickory program questions; L. Eguiarte for molecular analysis advice; P. Gepts for hospitality at UC Davis during P.C-GM. and D.Z-V.’s sabbatical; PROMEP for O.V-P.’s scholarship; SINAREFI-SAGARPA (P-007) and CONABIO (P-CS007) for financial research grants; A. Casas and two anonymous reviewers for comments that improved the manuscript; and B. Hazen, S. Repinski, and K. Kraft for help reviewing the English. The authors also thank the traditional mezcal growers from southern Jalisco for sharing their knowledge and for their courage in preserving their genetic resources.

⁴ Author for correspondence (e-mail: pcolunga{at}cicy.mx)

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