Seed management and selection in ancient maize landraces from the French Pyrenees: ethnobotanical survey and selection experiment

Brigitte Gouesnard (), Yacine Diaw, Laurène Gay (), Joëlle Ronfort () and Jacques David ()
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Brigitte Gouesnard: UMR AGAP - Amélioration génétique et adaptation des plantes méditerranéennes et tropicales - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier
Yacine Diaw: ISRA - Institut sénégalais de recherches agricoles [Dakar]
Laurène Gay: UMR AGAP - Amélioration génétique et adaptation des plantes méditerranéennes et tropicales - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier
Joëlle Ronfort: UMR AGAP - Amélioration génétique et adaptation des plantes méditerranéennes et tropicales - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier
Jacques David: UMR AGAP - Amélioration génétique et adaptation des plantes méditerranéennes et tropicales - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier

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Abstract: Maize landraces (Zea mays subsp. mays) have evolved under the joint action of environmental factors and of the farmers who cultivated them. In this study, we aim to quantify the selection gradients exerted by farmers by proposing them a selection test consisting in choosing the ears they would select if they were to grow maize landraces the following year. The study focused on the Pyrenees region of France, where landraces were cultivated until the arrival of hybrids in the 1960s and conserved ex-situ ever since. We interviewed former Pyrenean farmers or their children who were cultivating landraces 60 years ago. The survey documented seed management practices and know-how. Our selection test showed that their selection was based solely on ears: old farmers selected healthy and productive ears by using ear length and volume as the first two selection criteria. Both were highly correlated with the kernel weight per ear. Heritabilities of ear traits at an individual plant level were estimated in one trial for four landraces and were found variable between traits and landraces (average 0.36 ranging between 0 and 0.76). We calculated the expected genetic change after one generation of mass selection, following farmer selection criteria. For ear length, genetic change was expected to reach about 3.4% (from 1 to 7.5% over the 17 selection tests). We investigated seed selection practices both east and west of the Pyrenees and compared them qualitatively with those of native American farmers.

Keywords: Heritability; Seed management; Landraces; Ethnobotanical survey; Zea mays subsp. mays; Mass selection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
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Published in Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, inPress, ⟨10.1007/s10722-025-02555-0⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05210925

DOI: 10.1007/s10722-025-02555-0

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