Vavilov center
Area where domestication traits arise
Vavilov's 1924 scheme suggested that plants were domesticated in China, Hindustan, Central Asia, Asia Minor, Mediterranean, Abyssinia, Central and South America
A Vavilov center or center of origin is a geographical area where a group of organisms, either domesticated or wild, first developed its distinctive properties.[ 1] They are also considered centers of diversity. Centers of origin were first identified in 1924 by Nikolai Vavilov .
Plants
Locating the origin of crop plants is basic to plant breeding . This allows one to locate wild relatives, related species, and new genes (especially dominant genes , which may provide resistance to diseases).
Knowledge of the origins of crop plants is important in order to avoid genetic erosion , the loss of germplasm due to the loss of ecotypes and landraces , loss of habitat (such as rainforests), and increased urbanization. Germplasm preservation is accomplished through gene banks (largely seed collections but now frozen stem sections) and preservation of natural habitats (especially in centers of origin).
Vavilov centers
Approximate centers of origin of agriculture in the Neolithic Revolution and its spread in prehistory as understood in 2003: the Fertile Crescent (11,000 BP), the Yangtze and Yellow River basins (9,000 BP) and the New Guinea Highlands (9,000–6,000 BP), Central Mexico (5,000–4,000 BP), Northern South America (5,000–4,000 BP), sub-Saharan Africa (5,000–4,000 BP, exact location unknown), eastern North America (4,000–3,000 BP).[ 2]
A Vavilov Center (of Diversity) is a region of the world first indicated by Nikolai Vavilov to be an original center for the domestication of plants.[ 3] For crop plants, Nikolai Vavilov identified differing numbers of centers: three in 1924, five in 1926, six in 1929, seven in 1931, eight in 1935 and reduced to seven again in 1940.[ 4] [ 5]
Vavilov argued that plants were not domesticated somewhere in the world at random, but that there were regions where domestication started. The center of origin is also considered the center of diversity.
Vavilov's scheme as updated by Schery and Janick
Vavilov centers are regions where a high diversity of crop wild relatives can be found, representing the natural relatives of domesticated crop plants.
Cultivated plants of eight world centers of origin [ 6] [ 7]
Center
Plants
1) South Mexican and Central American Center
Includes southern sections of Mexico , Guatemala , El Salvador , Honduras and Costa Rica .
Grains and Legumes: maize , common bean , lima bean , tepary bean , jack bean , grain amaranth
Melon Plants: malabar gourd , winter pumpkin, chayote
Fiber Plants: upland cotton , bourbon cotton, henequen (sisal)
Miscellaneous: sweetpotato , arrowroot , pepper , papaya , guava , cashew , wild black cherry , chochenial, cherry tomato , cacao .
2) South American Center
62 plants listed; three subcenters
2) Peruvian, Ecuadorean, Bolivian Center:
Root Tubers: Andean potato, Other endemic cultivated potato species. Fourteen or more species with chromosome numbers varying from 24 to 60, Edible nasturtium
Grains and Legumes: starchy maize, lima bean , common bean
Root Tubers: edible canna , potato
Vegetable Crops: pepino , tomato , ground cherry , pumpkin , pepper
Fibre Plants: Egyptian cotton
Fruit and Miscellaneous: cocoa , passion flower , guava , heilborn, quinine tree , tobacco , cherimoya , coca
2A) Chiloé Center
(Archipelago near the coast of southern Chile )
2B) Brazilian-Paraguayan Center
3) Mediterranean Center
Includes all of Southern Europe and Northern Africa bordering the Mediterranean Sea . 84 listed plants
Cereals and Legumes: durum wheat , emmer , Polish wheat , spelt , Mediterranean oats , sand oats, canarygrass , grass pea , pea , lupine
Forage Plants: Egyptian clover , white clover , crimson clover , serradella
Oil and Fibre Plants: flax , rape , black mustard , olive
Vegetables: garden beet , cabbage , turnip , lettuce , asparagus , celery , chicory , parsnip , rhubarb ,
Ethereal Oil and Spice Plants: caraway , anise , thyme , peppermint , sage , hop .
4) Middle East
Includes interior of Asia Minor , all of Transcaucasia , Iran , and the highlands of Turkmenistan . 83 species
Grains and Legumes: einkorn wheat , durum wheat , poulard wheat, common wheat , oriental wheat , Persian wheat , two-row barley , rye , Mediterranean oats, common oats, lentil , lupine
Forage Plants: alfalfa , Persian clover, fenugreek , vetch , hairy vetch
Fruits: fig , pomegranate , apple , pear , quince , cherry , hawthorn .
5) Abyssinian Center
Includes Ethiopia , Eritrea , and part of Somalia . 38 species listed; rich in wheat and barley.
Grains and Legumes: Abyssinian hard wheat, poulard wheat, emmer , Polish wheat, barley , grain sorghum , pearl millet , African millet , cowpea , flax , teff
Miscellaneous: sesame , castor bean , garden cress , coffee , okra , myrrh , indigo , enset .
6) Central Asiatic Center
Includes Northwest India (Punjab, Northwest Frontier Provinces and Kashmir), Afghanistan , Tajikistan , Uzbekistan , and western Tian-Shan . 43 plants
Grains and Legumes: common wheat , club wheat, shot wheat, peas , lentil , horse bean , chickpea , mung bean , mustard , flax , sesame
Fiber Plants: hemp , cotton
Vegetables: onion , garlic , spinach , carrot
Fruits: pistachio , pear , almond , grape , apple .
7) Indian Center
Two subcenters
7) Indo-Burma:
Main Center (India): Includes Assam , Bangladesh and Burma , but not Northwest India, Punjab, nor Northwest Frontier Provinces, 117 plants
Cereals and Legumes: chickpea , pigeon pea , urd bean , mung bean , rice bean , cowpea ,
Vegetables and Tubers: eggplant , cucumber , radish , taro , yam
Fruits: mango , tangerine , citron , tamarind
Sugar, Oil, and Fibre Plants: sugar cane , coconut palm , sesame , safflower , tree cotton , oriental cotton, jute , crotalaria , kenaf
Spices, Stimulants, Dyes, and Miscellaneous: hemp , black pepper , gum arabic , sandalwood , indigo , cinnamon tree , croton , bamboo , turmeric ,
7A) Siam-Malaya-Java: statt Indo-Malayan Center:
Includes Indo-China and the Malay Archipelago, 55 plants
Cereals and Legumes: Job's tears , velvet bean
Fruits: pummelo , banana , breadfruit , mangosteen
Oil, Sugar, Spice, and Fibre Plants: candlenut , coconut palm , sugarcane , clove , nutmeg , black pepper , manila hemp .
8) Chinese Center
A total of 136 endemic plants are listed in the largest independent center
Cereals and Legumes: rice ,[ 8] broomcorn millet , Italian millet , Japanese barnyard millet , sorghum , buckwheat , hull-less barley, soybean , Adzuki bean , velvet bean
Roots, Tubers, and Vegetables: Chinese yam , radish , Chinese cabbage , onion , cucumber
Fruits and Nuts: pear , Chinese apple, peach , apricot , cherry , walnut , litchi , orange
Sugar, Drug, and Fibre Plants: sugar cane , opium poppy , ginseng camphor, hemp .
Purugganan and Fuller 2009 scheme
[ 9]
Center
Plants
Years before present
1) eastern North America
Chenopodium berlandieri , Iva annua , and Helianthus annuus
4,500–4,000 years
2) Mesoamerica
Cucurbita pepo
10,000
Zea mays
9,000–7,000
2a) northern lowland neotropics
Cucurbita moschata , Ipomoea batatas , Phaseolus vulgaris , tree crops
9,000–8,000
3) central mid-altitude Andes
Chenopodium quinoa , Amaranthus caudatus
5,000
3a) north and central Andes , mid-altitude and high altitude areas
Solanum tuberosum , Oxalis tuberosa , Chenopodium pallidicaule
8,000
3b) lowland southern Amazonia
Manihot esculenta and Arachis hypogaea
8,000
3c) Ecuador (part of 3, 3a, and/or 3b?) and northwest Peru
Phaseolus lunatus , Canavalia plagiosperma , and Cucurbita ecuadorensis
10,000
4) western sub-Saharan African
Pennisetum glaucum
4,500
4a) west African savanna and woodlands
Vigna unguiculata
3,700
Digitaria exilis and Oryza glaberrima
<3,000
4b) west African rainforests
Dioscorea rotundata and Elaeis guineensis
poorly documented
5) east Sudanic Africa
Sorghum bicolor
>4,000?
6) east African uplands
Eragrostis tef and Eleusine coracana
4,000?
east African lowlands
vegeculture of Dioscorea cayennensis and Ensete ventricosum
poorly documented
7) Near East
Hordeum vulgare , Triticum spp., Lens culinaris , Pisum sativum , Cicer arietinum , Vicia faba
13,000–10,000
7a) eastern Fertile Crescent
additional Hordeum vulgare
goats
9,000
8a) Gujarat , India
Panicum sumatrense and Vigna mungo
5,000?
8b) Upper Indus
Panicum sumatrense , Vigna radiata , and Vigna aconitifolia
5,000
8c) Ganges
Oryza sativa subsp. indica
8,500–4,500
8d) southern India
Brachiaria ramosa , Vigna radiata , and Macrotyloma uniflorum
5,000–4,000
9) eastern Himalayas and Yunnan uplands
Fagopyrum esculentum
5,000?
10) northern China
Setaria italica and Panicum miliaceum
8,000
Glycine max
4,500?
11) southern Hokkaido , Japan
Echinochloa crusgalli
4,500
12) Yangtze River Valley , China
Oryza sativa subsp. japonica
9,000–6,000
12a) southern China
Colocasia spp., Coix lacryma-jobi
poorly documented, 4,500?
13) New Guinea and Wallacea
Colocasia esculenta , Dioscorea esculenta , and Musa acuminata
7,000
See also
References
^ "International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture" (PDF) . Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2009. p. Article 2.
^ Diamond, J. ; Bellwood, P. (2003). "Farmers and Their Languages: The First Expansions". Science . 300 (5619): 597–603. Bibcode :2003Sci...300..597D . CiteSeerX 10.1.1.1013.4523 . doi :10.1126/science.1078208 . PMID 12714734 . S2CID 13350469 .
^ Blaine P. Friedlander Jr (June 20, 2000). "Cornell and Polish research scientists lead effort to save invaluable potato genetic archive in Russia" . Retrieved March 19, 2008 .
^ Vavilov, N. I. ; Löve, Doris (trans.) (1992). Origin and Geography of Cultivated Plants . Cambridge University Press. p. xxi. ISBN 978-0521404273 .
^ Corinto, Gian Luigi (2014). "Nikolai Vavilov's Centers of Origin of Cultivated Plants With a View to Conserving Agricultural Biodiversity" . Human Evolution . 29 (4): 285–301.
^ Adapted from Vavilov (1951) by R. W. Schery, Plants for Man, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1972
^ History of Horticulture, Jules Janick, Purdue University, 2002
^ Gross, B. L.; Zhao, Z. (April 21, 2014). "Archaeological and genetic insights into the origins of domesticated rice" . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 111 (17): 6190–6197. Bibcode :2014PNAS..111.6190G . doi :10.1073/pnas.1308942110 . PMC 4035933 . PMID 24753573 .
^ Purugganan, Michael D.; Fuller, Dorian Q. (2009). "The nature of selection during plant domestication". Nature . 457 (7231). Nature Research : 843–848. Bibcode :2009Natur.457..843P . doi :10.1038/nature07895 . ISSN 0028-0836 . PMID 19212403 . S2CID 205216444 .