Beatriz Urbano

Management of Galega officinalis L. and preliminary results on its potential for milk production improvement in sheep

Abstract Galega officinalis L. is a leguminous perennial herb that presents a demonstrated lac‐togenic effect. However, it is toxic to the ewe if it is eaten in substantial amounts, due to the presence of some alkaloids. The objective of this work was i) to optimise its management on Mediterranean‐type climate regions, and ii) to determine if controlled amounts of G. officinalis could increase milk yield in “Churra” ewes, without toxicity problems. The high level of specificity of the infective rhizobia makes it necessary to inoculate plants with selected strains, prior to the cultivation of G. officinalis. The optimum stand was 160 000 plants ha−1 obtained after broadcast autumn sowing, which in Mediterranean‐type climatic conditions increased yield in the first cutting year. Optimum cutting height was between 6 and 10 cm above ground level. The maximum yield was 13 t dry matter ha−1 in the first year, and 10 in the second year which allowed five cuttings per year before flowering. This avoids an increase in alkaloids at flowering. To increase the yield during the second year, delaying of the last cutting to avoid autumn regrowth is proposed. This cut would be left as green manure. Preliminary results on increasing milk yield indicated that a controlled daily dose of 2 g dry matter kg−1 (body weight) from the first month after lambing until the third milk recording 60 days later, led to a 16.90% increase in total milk yield and a 10.86% increase when the milk yield is readjusted to a lactation length of 120 days.

Market Research for the Optimization of the Consumers Response to the Recent Award of a Protected Geographical Indication to a Local Product, Beans from “La Bañeza-León” (Spain)

Abstract In Europe several low involvement food products with reduced productions have been awarded with a PGI or PDO during the last few years. The beans from La Bañeza-León (Spain) are an example of this and received a PGI in September 2005. The general objective was to appraise the effect that the award of the PGI to such kinds of food products has in consumers, in order to optimize the managerial and public policies, and to get maximum advantage from the PGI distinction in the commercialization of them. For low involvement products with PGI, the general guidelines should be to keep the prices as low as possible, to develop intensive public information campaigns about the award of the PGI, and to offer the product in medium or high involvement restaurants, in order to reach those consumers willing to pay more for the product, that are mainly in the age range of 36 to 45 years. It is also discussed that the PGI label would have more interest than a private brand. Specifically for beans from “La Bañeza-León,” the PGI Council should urgently tackle a promotional campaign about the product and the PGI award that should reach to most of the consumers in the target markets, taking into account that as the distance from the production area increases the knowledge of the product decreases. This campaign should help the consumer to clearly identify the beans from the PGI by using an attractive logo, and to inform them that the beans from the PGI are superior than substitutive beans in taste and cooking time. Finally, public campaigns that promote the consumption of beans among youth would be necessary.

Biodiversity and indigenous management of the endangered non-toxic germplasm of Jatropha curcas L. in the Totonacapan (Mexico), and the implications for its conservation.

Mexico is a center of diversity of Jatropha curcas. Worldwide there are two groups of germplasm, the toxic and the non-toxic, and most of the biofuels programs are based on toxic germplasm. In the mountains of the Totonacapan (Mexico), non-toxic genotypes have been cultivated for human food from ancient times, and now they are in serious risk of being lost because of the “biofuel program”, as well as the ethnobotanical knowledge about this germplasm in the Totonaca culture. The starting hypothesis is that this ethnobotanical knowledge must be related with a high biodiversity of the germplasm of this crop, which is necessary to preserve to avoid genetic erosion. The objective of the work was to assess the biodiversity of the native germplasm using morphological traits, and to analyse socio-economic aspects related with the ethnobotany of this germplasm, to design strategies for the conservation of the germplasm and of the culture linked to it. Other specific objective was to select morphological variables highly discriminant and easy-to-measure, for the characterization of this crop. We selected eight morphological descriptors as the most discriminant, related with the leaves: Length and width of the blade, and length of the petiole; and the fruit: weight, length, diameter, length of the peduncle, and number of fruits per bunch. On the basis of the principal component analysis and canonical discriminant analysis of the morphological data, it was possible to identify as different germplasm pools the six locations sampled, in spite of their proximity, confirming the starting hypothesis that there is high biodiversity of this crop in the region. The pools from Camocuautla and Tuzamapan were the most similar between them, with small fruits and a low number of teeth in the leaves. The germplasm form Jonotla showed also small fruits, but small leaves and a short petiole. Tetelilla’s germplasm showed a high number of teeth in the leaves, big fruits and leaves, and long petiole. The accessions from Ecatlán showed big fruits, low number of fruits per bunch and short fruit’s peduncle, with small leaves and a short petiole. The differential traits of the accession from Zozocolco were a high number of fruits per bunch and a long fruit’s peduncle. Unlike what happened with the germplasm, the socio-economic profile of the farmers did not follow a geographical pattern. Facing the scenario of establishment of the “biofuel program” in the region, we proposed an on farm conservation strategy consisting in the exclusive use of local non-toxic germplasm, which will need the involvement of all the stakeholders, and in special of the local plant nurseries. As this is difficult to achieve, the ex situ conservation has been proposed as an emergency action. Even if the genetic erosion is stopped, it is necessary to develop other companion measures to avoid the loss of the knowledge about the ancestral uses of this crop, as the farmers could prefer to sell the crop for the industry, instead of use at least a part of it for their own food.

Analysis of the biodiversity of hawthorn ( Crataegus spp.) from the morphological, molecular, and ethnobotanical approaches, and implications for genetic resource conservation in scenery of increasing cultivation: the case of Mexico

One hundred and forty Mexican hawthorn (Crataegus spp.) accessions from six regions are preserved at the BGT-UACH germplasm bank (Mexico), comprising the most comprehensive living collection of Mexican hawthorns with different degrees of human management. The objective of this study was to assess the biodiversity of this valuable collection from morphological, molecular (microsatellite), and ethnobotanical viewpoints in order to delineate the most adequate strategy for the conservation of the native hawthorn germplasm in the present scenario of incipient establishment of commercial hawthorn plantations, which is likely to increase. Molecular characterisation revealed that the biodiversity was chiefly (90%) placed within the regions. Morphological characterisation indicated that the group from Chiapas was the most different germplasm pool compared with the other five. This was confirmed by molecular analysis, because in spite of the lack of a phylogeographical pattern, two germplasm pools were detected: one composed mainly by accessions from Chiapas and the other mainly by accessions from the other regions. The only clear differences among the regions in the ethnobotanical study were those derived from putting hawthorns into commercial cultivation, which occurred in just one region in the centre of the country (Mexico–Puebla–Tlaxcala). As a consequence, an ex situ conservation programme is necessary for those regions shifting patterns of cultivation from traditional to commercial, regardless of whether other on-farm programmes are also implemented. The germplasm collections within each region must be exhaustive due to their high genetic diversity.

Induced Systemic Resistance Could Explain the Reduction in the Incidence of Black Sigatoka (Mycosphaerella fijiensis) in Banana Plants Inoculated with Bacteria Isolated from Banana Tree Roots in the Dominican Republic

Black sigatoka caused by Mycosphaerella fijiensis (Morelet) is one of the main diseases affecting banana trees worldwide, resulting in a reduced fruit yield . Banana is a major export crop in many tropical and subtropical countries, and many farmers have decided to shift to an organic production system for produce that is destined for the international market. Induced systemic resistance (ISR) protects plants against disease-causing pathogens, and this mechanism can be triggered by some bacteria associated with plant roots. The inoculation of plant roots with bacteria able to induce systemic resistance in plants has been proposed for disease control in organic agriculture as an alternative to chemicals. Fifty-six nonpathogenic and endophytic strains isolated from roots of banana trees cv. Cavendish in organic systems from four regions of the Dominican Republic were the starting point for the present work. We used 26 of them to inoculate the root systems of banana plants, the leaves of which were inoculated with M. fijiensis inoculum, in order to analyse their effect on the control of black sigatoka under growth chamber conditions. The selection of the 26 strains to be tested in plants was based on the following plant growth-promoting (PGP) traits : production of siderophore (17 strains), production of IAA (two strains) and ACC deaminase activity (two strains); the remaining five showed low values for all of the PGP traits. The best controllers of sigatoka were five strains from the genus Bacillus (related to B. licheniformis, B. siamensis and B. subtilis ssp. inaquosorum) and one Rhizobium massiliae. With the six strains, the severity index (SI) of the plants coinoculated with the bacteria and the pathogen did not differ from the noninoculated control. The sigatoka control observed has been tentatively assigned to ISR phenomena, which is discussed in the chapter. The six selected strains could be used in the short term to control black sigatoka in organic banana production systems in the Dominican Republic.