J. Tuxill

All Maize Is Not Equal: Maize Variety Choices and Mayan Foodways in Rural Yucatan, Mexico

Foodways have changed substantially over the past several centuries in the Yucatan Peninsula and other areas of Mesoamerica, but one constant is the presence of maize (Zea mays) at the heart of rural economy, ecology, and culture. The domestication and diversification of maize – the world’s most productive grain crop – by indigenous farmers ranks as one of the greatest accomplishments of plant breeding. Remains of ancient maize cobs in the archeological record suggest that maize was first brought into cultivation roughly 7,000 years ago in the highlands of central Mexico, where its closest wild relative, teosinte (Zea mays ssp. parviglumis), also grows (Wilkes 1977; McClung de Tapia 1997; Smith 2001; Piperno and Flannery 2001; Matsuoka et al. 2002.). From that starting point, maize was gradually selected and diversified over time by farmers into an impressive array of different forms, sizes, and colors. Maize appears to spread out of central Mexico rapidly in the context of regional trade and exchange networks, and farmers selected and adapted maize populations to thrive in new environments. Archeobotanical evidence from northern Belize suggests maize arrived in the Yucatan Peninsula by about 5,000 years B.P. (Colunga-Garcia Marin and Zizumbo-Villarreal 2004).

Longitudinal analysis of maize diversity in Yucatan, Mexico: influence of agro-ecological factors on landraces conservation and modern variety introduction

Transformations that farmers bring to their traditional farming systems and their impacts on the conservation and evolution of maize varieties over a 12-year period are investigated using a longitudinal analysis. Despite the increased introduction and supply of improved maize variety seeds in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, over the last 12 years farmers continue to maintain a substantial amount of traditional maize variety diversity. Even with the increased availability of hybrid seeds, farmers in the community of Yaxcaba on average plant more than three quarters of their milpa fields to traditional maize varieties, with the latter one fourth predominately planted to a locally improved variety Nal Xoy , a farm cross of a traditional variety and an improved variety. We observed a significant reduction in yellow – x-Nuuk nal , a long-cycle traditional landrace, paralleled by an increase in short- and intermediate-cycle locally adapted improved maize varieties. We found great differences in the distribution of maize varieties by soil type, with modern varieties being targeted for the rarer, deeper and fine-grained soils, while traditional varieties predominate on the more prevalent stony and thin soils. Our results provide a picture in which most traditional maize varieties in Yaxcaba continue to be maintained by farmers, coexisting with locally adapted improved varieties on the same landscape, and allowing the continued evolution of maize populations.