The ecosystem services concept provides a means to define successful disease management more broadly, beyond short-term crop yield evaluations. Plant disease can affect ecosystem services directly, such as through removal of plants providing services, or indirectly through the effects of disease management activities, including pesticide applications, tillage, and other methods of plant removal. Increased plant biodiversity may reduce disease risk if susceptible host tissue becomes less common, or may increase risk if additional plant species are important in completing pathogen life cycles. Arthropod and microbial biodiversity may play similar roles. Distant ecosystems may provide a disservice as the setting for the evolution of pathogens that later invade a focal ecosystem, where plants have not evolved defenses. Conversely, distant ecosystems may provide a service as sources of genetic resources of great value to agriculture, including disease resistance genes. Good policies are needed to support conservation and optimal use of genetic resources, protect ecosystems from exotic pathogens, and limit the homogeneity of agricultural systems. Research is needed to provide policy makers, farmers, and consumers with the information required for evaluating trade-offs in the pursuit of the full range of ecosystem services desired from managed and native ecosystems.

In this work, the inter-relationship among 10 morphological characters, 8 climatic parameters and the content of total anthocyanins in the cob core of PMV 581 purple maize, cultivated and produced in three different places in Huanuco–Peru region, has been reported. This study of morphological characters was carried out using standard descriptors, both for the plant and the cob. Data on climatic parameters were obtained from three meteorological stations near the test locations. The total anthocyanin content (Acy), expressed as the glucoside-3-cyanidin concentration, has been determined by the differential pH method. From the statistical treatment of the data obtained, the following descriptors were found to be the most representative, given that they are poorly correlated with each other, but in general, depending on the localities: i/ (morphological) grain weight per cob GWC, plant length PL and cob core weight CCW; ii/ (climatic) minimum temperature T_min, wind speed v and relative humidity RH. Between both types of descriptors, the best correlations occur for (CCW vs. T_min) and (GWC vs. v). On the other hand, the total anthocyanin content Acy correlates very well with the CCW and T_min descriptors. So, the highest concentration of Acy (684.2 mg/100 g) and also the highest CCW (38.6 g/cob) have been obtained in cobs of Winchuspata (W-Q), the coldest (T_min = 7.89 °C) of the considered localities. On the contrary, the lowest concentration of Acy (603.7 mg/100 g) and also the lowest CCW 25.4 g/cob) have been obtained in cobs of Pistaloli (P-SA), the warmest (T_min = 19.96 °C) of the three locations. The highest GWC value (139.4 g/cob) has been obtained in cobs of Marabamba (M-Y) where the wind speed v (4.13 m/s) was the highest of the locations considered. On the contrary, the lowest value of GWC (79.6 g/cob) has been obtained for cobs of Pistaloli (P-SA) where v was the lowest (1.19 m/s). In this context, it is important to propose studies on climatic variations’ impact on different crop cycles, investigating how different agronomic management practices and the use of genetic identification/expression tools can optimize the anthocyanin production of purple maize, in order to facilitate the selection of new varieties for specific climatic conditions.

Ethno-Botany and in-situ conservation of the genetic diversity of arracacha (Arracacia xanthorrhiza Bancroft), yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolious H.Robinson), and wild relatives

The study consisted of determination the native starch content in the tubers of the seven landraces potato, developed according to the quantitative approach framework. The samplings of tubers were developed by transect technique, in three production places from Quío town. The starch concentration of the tubers was analyzed in the laboratory of the Agricultural Sciences Faculty at UNHEVAL by the decanting method. The data were analyzed using the descriptive statistics, contingency and cluster analysis techniques. Starch content variation in landraces potato were from 12.44% in Tarmeña variety to 20.19% in Ishcupuru variety. The results showed that is necessary to be directed towards other bigger studies that approaches alternatives for to promote the human consumption of native potatoes of high nutritional quality food, its use in the food industry; in addition, to developed other research about the genetic improvement of native potatoes for to select varieties that synthesize larger amounts of starch and other industrial value substances. Keywords: Native Potato Starch, Potato Varieties, Transect

Today’s wine and Pisco grape production in Peru is largely dominated by a reduced number of grapevine ( Vitis vinifera L.) varieties. However, Peru is home to a high number of lesser‐known local varieties that are still present in traditional vineyards and/or preserved in national or regional grapevine collections, of interest to diversify the local industry. Here, we analyzed 121 grapevine accessions preserved in the ampelographic collection of the Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agraria (INIA‐EEA) at Chincha (Ica, Peru), using a combined SNP and SSR genetic profiling strategy for their molecular characterization and identification. This approach led to the differentiation of 45 different grapevine genetic profiles, 40 of them corresponding to already catalogued table and wine grape varieties of diverse geographic origin. Interestingly, we found five grapevines with genetic profiles not registered before. Some of them were found to be descendants of Listán Prieto and/or Muscat of Alexandria, increasing the known role of these two varieties as founders of the Criolla varieties, the autochthonous South American grapevine germplasm. A predominance of the varieties Listán Prieto and Quebranta was also observed, as they were found to be preserved multiple times in the INIA‐EEA Grapevine Collection under different local synonyms. Strikingly, the phenotypic description of different accessions matching the genotypes of these two relevant varieties showed a high degree of phenotypic diversity, including the identification of novel berry‐color and Muscat‐flavored somatic variants that might have a direct impact toward local grape industry diversification. These findings underline the importance of the local genetic resources preserved at the INIA‐EEA Grapevine Collection for grapevine improvement. Registering the newly identified varieties and somatic variants with novel traits of interest would represent a crucial first step toward making this plant material available to local grape growers, ultimately promoting the diversification of the Peruvian grape, wine, and Pisco industries.