Promoting the conservation and use of underutilized and neglected crops

M. Hermann and J. Heller (eds.)
1997. Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben/International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI). 256 pp.

Available for download in pdf as one file (8MB) or by section:

Intro (289KB)
Ahipa (2262KB)
Arracacha (4646KB)
Maca (1520KB)
Yacon (868KB)
Contacts (258KB)

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This monograph is the first of two volumes to deal in depth with the biology, biosystematics, economic botany and genetic resources of Andean roots and tubers. It covers the species ahipa (Pachyrhizus ahipa, Fabaceae.), arracacha (Arracacia xanthorrhiza, Apiaceae), maca (Lepidium meyenii, Brassicaceae) and yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius, Asteraceae). Written by crop experts from a wide range of institutions, the book not only provides the newest research findings, but it also draws heavily on a sizeable body of grey literature in Spanish and Portuguese which is hardly accessible to the non-specialist.

With its emphasis on genetic resources and analysis of crop potentials and constraints, this monographs will be of interest to all those concerned with the conservation, improvement and promotion of minor crops. The monograph is co-published by the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) and the Institut fuer Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung (IPK) and its production was funded by the German Ministry of Cooperation (BMZ).

Of the four species selected for this volume, ahipa is perhaps the least known, and yet one that deserves more attention by researchers. In multilocational trials, ahipa has been shown to yield heavily. Not only has this crop potential for raw consumption, but its crispy texture lends itself for use in stir-fried dishes where water chestnuts and bamboo sprouts are not available. For a crop of such limited geographic distribution (its cultivation is known from Bolivia and northern Argentina only), ahipa is astonishingly variable in terms of chemical composition, morphology and growth habit. This monograph is the first to deal extensively with this crop.

The chapter on arracacha shows that the importance of this crop extends well beyond the Andes, especially into Brazil. Most of the literature on this crop has appeared in Portuguese. Arracacha use also provides interesting examples for the potential of processing to make ARTC more attractive to urban consumption. Novel data on arracacha's breeding system and closely related wild species are also given.

The chapter on maca adds new findings to a very limited body of international literature on this crop. In the last 20 years maca has seen its fortunes change from precipitous decline to an export earner advertised on the Internet. Type "Lepidium meyenii" or "Andean Ginseng" in any of the search machines and numerous advertisements will pop up to praise the "invigorating" effects of a drug made from the pounded dry root. Processing of maca into 500-mg gelatine capsules may add several hundred US dollars of value to a kilogram of dry root.

Another 'fruit' crop dealt with in this monograph is the yacon root, which is increasingly grown in Brazil, Japan, Korea and New Zealand, for sale in niche markets. Yacon products range from sirups and pickles to dried flakes and leaves. Interest in yacon has been stimulated by the discovery of dietary sugars in the roots (mostly fructans) and putative medicinal compounds in the leaves. Entrepreneurial farmers have seized upon market opportunities and demonstrated that product development, rather than lament over changing food patterns, is a way to give perspective to seemingly 'obsolete' crops. Modern taxonomic concepts place yacon, hitherto known in the scientific literature as Polymnia sonchifolia, in genus Smallanthus, a nomenclatural change that is explained and justified in the book. The authors also present cytological and morphological evidence pointing to several wild Smallanthus species that could have been involved in the ancestry of the cultigen.