The “Bringing into Cultivation” Phase of the Plant Domestication Process and Its Contributions toIn SituConservation of Genetic Resources in Benin

Abstract

All over the world, plant domestication is continually being carried out by local communities to support their needs for food, fibre, medicine, building materials, etc. Using participatory rapid appraisal approach, 150 households were surveyed in 5 villages selected in five ethnic groups of Benin, to investigate the local communities' motivations for plant domestication and the contributions of this process to in situ conservation of genetic resources. The results indicated differences in plant domestication between agroecological zones and among ethnic groups. People in the humid zones give priority to herbs mainly for their leaves while those in dry area prefer trees mostly for their fruits. Local communities were motivated to undertake plant domestication for foods (80% of respondents), medicinal use (40% of respondents), income generation (20% of respondents) and cultural reasons (5% of respondents). 45% of the species recorded are still at early stage in domestication and only 2% are fully domesticated. Eleven factors related to the households surveyed and to the head of the household interviewed affect farmers' decision making in domesticating plant species. There is gender influence on the domestication: Women are keen in domesticating herbs while men give priority to trees.

Ethnobotanical Investigation of Lippia multiflora Moldenke, a Local Aromatic Leafy Vegetable under Domestication in Benin

“…These results which are in agreement with those reported by Hildebrand (2003) in southwest Ethiopia and Casas et al (2007) in Mesoamerica are not surprising since plant domestication always seek to bring out the maximum human benefit within a species. They also support the statement of Vodouhè et al (2011), Adjatin et al (2012) according to which domestication of a plant starts, when its usefulness is proved, its demand is confirmed and regular, its availability around dwellings is seriously decreasing and when getting the desired quantity on time for use becomes problematic. …”

“…Following the scale defined by Vodouhè et al (2011), the species is at level 0 at Dome, level 1 at Adjante, Atokolibe, Gobe, Sowé and Dogo, level 2 at Obicro and Monkpa, level 4 at Madjavi. The other domestication level were not found in the villages visited (Fig.…”

“…These steps as defined by Vodouhè et al (2011) and Dansi et al (2012) are as follow: -Step 0: Species entirely wild and collected only when needed; -Step 1: Wild species maintained in the fields when found during land preparation; -Step 2: Farmers start paying more attention to the preserved plants for their survival and their normal growth. A sort of ownership on the plants starts; -Step 3: The reproductive biology of the species is understood and multiplication and cultivation of the species in the home gardens or in selected parts of cultivated fields are undertaken; -Step 4: The species is produced (in sole cropping) and harvested using traditional practices; -Step 5: To improve the quality of the product, farmers adopt specific criteria to select plants that better satisfied peoples' needs -Step 6: Development of appropriate pests and disease protection and food processing methods.…”

“…Following Vodouhè et al (2011), bringing into cultivation of leafy vegetable can be seen as a long process of seven steps leading to the development of the best cultural practices or technological packages necessary to master mass production in order to move from a proto-culture (wild species maintained in the fields for use when found during land preparation) to traditional home garden cultivation and later on to production in market gardens for food and economic purposes. These steps as defined by Vodouhè et al (2011) and Dansi et al (2012) are as follow: -Step 0: Species entirely wild and collected only when needed; -Step 1: Wild species maintained in the fields when found during land preparation; -Step 2: Farmers start paying more attention to the preserved plants for their survival and their normal growth.…”

“…For cultural practices, specific data collected were related to seeds conservation, seed germination (treatment and management of nurseries), density of seedling, use of pesticides and manures (type, dose and frequency), harvest (number and duration) and the cultural system (monoculture, mixed culture). The level of domestication of the species was determined in the different villages following Vodouhè and Dansi (2012).…”