Resumen

BLANCO BETANCOURT, Diana Marcela; REYES AGUERO, Juan Antonio; GAESE, Hartmut  y  TORRICO ALBINO, Juan Carlos. Traditional management analysis of potato germplasm(Solanum spp.) in two indigenous communities in La Paz, Bolivia. CienciAgro [online]. 2017, vol.7, n.1, pp. 9-20. ISSN 2072-1404.

Abstract: In Bolivia, the potatocrop(Solanum spp.) is oneofthemostimportantcrops. Its agriculturalbiodiversity, its forms ofuses, thechuño andtuntatransformation, and itsmorphologicalcharacteristics gives its relevancein the country. While being part ofthe área of origin and domesticationofthe potato, in Bolivia a significant amountof variants of cultivatedpotatoes aresafeguards.However,thelackof descriptiveandethnobiologicalstudieshasrestrbted the investigation ofthe crop,the agrobiodiversity andits cultural dimensión. Conservationof potatoes, nationwide, is coveredby the exsitu strategy, where germplasmis kept in a bank,and to a lesserextent, in situ conservation strategies are applied in very specific geographic áreas. However, the lack of ethnobiological studies, the implementation of in situ conservation strategies and the importanceoftheirrelationship threaten the agricultural biodiversity ofthe country. Therefore there is a need to analyze the traditional management ofthe potato crop, which is the main objective of this study. More specifically in the two communities in the department of La Paz: Caluyo and Belén Iquiacawhere the lack of studies hasnot allowed elucídate the importanceoftheir activities and theircrop diversity. This research describes and analy zes the agriculturalbiodiversity, traditionalmanagement and conservationactions ofthe traditional variants in the two communities mentionedabove. There were 36 variants in total, 17 in Caluyo and 22 in Belén Iquiaca, both communities share three variants. Management practices are similar for both communities and there are actions to conserve its variants depending on its commercial importance and consumption. There is a cióse relationship between the amount of cultivated variants, traditional management practices in a cropland and conservation actions. All of which are dependent from one and other and are prone to loss because the lackof investigation.

Palabras llave : Agrobiodiversity; Solanum spp.; traditionalknowledge,; conservation.