**Participatory Plant Quality Breeding: An Ancient Art Revisited by Knowledge Sharing. The Portuguese Experience**

Maria Carlota Vaz Patto, Pedro Manuel Mendes-Moreira, Mara Lisa Alves, Elsa Mecha, Carla Brites, Maria do Rosário Bronze and Silas Pego

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/52951

**1. Introduction**

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#### **1.1. Participatory plant breeding and on-farm conservation**

Since the first domestications of wild plants about 12.000 years ago, farmers have been re‐ sponsible for the development and conservation of thousands of crop landraces in hundreds of species [1]. Farmers put aside, for the next generation, a part of the harvested seed. De‐ pending on the crop and the farmer, selection is carried out to obtain a crop answering bet‐ ter to the wishes of the growers and communities [2].

Following [3] definition: "a landrace is a dynamic population(s) of a cultivated plant that has historical origin, distinct identity and lacks formal crop improvement, as well as often being genetically diverse, locally adapted and associated with traditional farming systems".

Especially in more favorable environments, landraces are being replaced by modern variet‐ ies, which are less resilient to pests, diseases and abiotic stresses and thereby losing a valua‐ ble source of germplasm for meeting the future needs of sustainable agriculture in the context of climate change. However, landrace cultivation persists in less favorable environ‐ ments [4]. This persistence is not due to increased productivity levels but because of their increased stability, accomplished through generations of natural and deliberate selection for favorable genes for resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses and intergenotypic competition

and compensation [5]. They may also be kept by their dietary or nutritional value, taste, or for the price premium they attract because of high-quality traditional properties that com‐ pensate for lower yields [6]. This seems to be the case of the maize (*Zea mays* L. ssp. *mays*) landraces in Portugal that survived based on their quality traits such as technological ca‐ pacity and aroma characteristics highly valued for bread production [7]. This bread making ability seems to depend on a range of particular traits not found on the available commercial hybrid varieties, and this is probably why maize landraces have not, in these regions, been totally replaced by hybrid varieties. As long as farmers themselves find it in their best inter‐ est to grow traditional varieties, both farmers and society as a whole will benefit at no extra cost to either partner [8].

As reviewed in [9], the food price crisis of 2008, sustained high prices, and more recent peaks observed in 2011 and 2012 have brought agriculture back onto global and national agendas. By 2050, global population is projected to increase by about one third, which will require a 70% increase in food production. To meet this need we should focus again on shift‐ ing the crop yield frontier, but also increasing production in more marginal environments through the increase of resistance to stress and improving competitiveness and sustainabili‐ ty. Traditional varieties continue to be fundamental in trying to achieve this global food se‐ curity [6]. The erosion of these resources results in a severe threat to the world's long-term food security. Although often neglected, the urgent need to conserve and utilize landraces genetic resources as a safeguard against an unpredictable future is evident [10]. Farmers can contribute to this objective. The conservation and use of traditional varieties by farmers might be increased or at least sustained if more information on their good characteristics (adaptive, quality) is gather and disseminated among farmers and consumers and if the ma‐ terials themselves are enhanced (breed). On-farm participatory breeding may have a signifi‐ cant and positive influence by encouraging farmers to adopt simple population improvement methodologies allowing them to do better with their own landraces [7].

#### **1.2. Addressed problems and advantages**

Conventional plant breeding (CPB), emerged in the early part of the 20th century, based on Darwin's theory of evolution through selection and the genetic mechanisms of evolution de‐ veloped by Mendel and others [11, 12], has become increasingly isolated from the traditional plant breeding performed by farmers. The emphasis of this conventional breeding has typi‐ cally been on developing modern varieties with high yield and geographically wide adapta‐ tion to optimal, relatively uniform growing environments [13, 14]. This contrasts with farmer breeding and farmers' local varieties, which are usually assumed to have narrow geographical adaptation to marginal, relatively variable growing environments, and high yield stability in those environments from year to year [1]. Modern agriculture, conventional breeding and the liberal use of high inputs has resulted in the loss of genetic diversity and the stagnation of yields in cereals in less favorable areas [5].

With the development of modern sustainable low-input agriculture in industrialized coun‐ tries, for economic and environmental reasons, emphasis has recently been placed on local adaptation, on preservation of genetic diversity and on quality. This has resulted largely from the increasing awareness of the limits to conventional breeding as a consequence of in‐ creasing scarcity and decreasing quality of production resources in the low stress environ‐ ments of modern agriculture [15]. Also the awareness that future increases in productivity may depend on increasing yields in high stress environments and on the maintenance of the available genetic variation, has motivated emphasis on specific or narrow adaptation and on genetic diversity conservation [15]. Conventional plant breeding has been successful in fa‐ vourable environments, or in those which can be made favourable (e.g. by the use of inputs), but is less successful in traditional low-input or organic farming systems with higher stress growing conditions especially in small-scale farms.

and compensation [5]. They may also be kept by their dietary or nutritional value, taste, or for the price premium they attract because of high-quality traditional properties that com‐ pensate for lower yields [6]. This seems to be the case of the maize (*Zea mays* L. ssp. *mays*) landraces in Portugal that survived based on their quality traits such as technological ca‐ pacity and aroma characteristics highly valued for bread production [7]. This bread making ability seems to depend on a range of particular traits not found on the available commercial hybrid varieties, and this is probably why maize landraces have not, in these regions, been totally replaced by hybrid varieties. As long as farmers themselves find it in their best inter‐ est to grow traditional varieties, both farmers and society as a whole will benefit at no extra

As reviewed in [9], the food price crisis of 2008, sustained high prices, and more recent peaks observed in 2011 and 2012 have brought agriculture back onto global and national agendas. By 2050, global population is projected to increase by about one third, which will require a 70% increase in food production. To meet this need we should focus again on shift‐ ing the crop yield frontier, but also increasing production in more marginal environments through the increase of resistance to stress and improving competitiveness and sustainabili‐ ty. Traditional varieties continue to be fundamental in trying to achieve this global food se‐ curity [6]. The erosion of these resources results in a severe threat to the world's long-term food security. Although often neglected, the urgent need to conserve and utilize landraces genetic resources as a safeguard against an unpredictable future is evident [10]. Farmers can contribute to this objective. The conservation and use of traditional varieties by farmers might be increased or at least sustained if more information on their good characteristics (adaptive, quality) is gather and disseminated among farmers and consumers and if the ma‐ terials themselves are enhanced (breed). On-farm participatory breeding may have a signifi‐ cant and positive influence by encouraging farmers to adopt simple population improvement methodologies allowing them to do better with their own landraces [7].

Conventional plant breeding (CPB), emerged in the early part of the 20th century, based on Darwin's theory of evolution through selection and the genetic mechanisms of evolution de‐ veloped by Mendel and others [11, 12], has become increasingly isolated from the traditional plant breeding performed by farmers. The emphasis of this conventional breeding has typi‐ cally been on developing modern varieties with high yield and geographically wide adapta‐ tion to optimal, relatively uniform growing environments [13, 14]. This contrasts with farmer breeding and farmers' local varieties, which are usually assumed to have narrow geographical adaptation to marginal, relatively variable growing environments, and high yield stability in those environments from year to year [1]. Modern agriculture, conventional breeding and the liberal use of high inputs has resulted in the loss of genetic diversity and

With the development of modern sustainable low-input agriculture in industrialized coun‐ tries, for economic and environmental reasons, emphasis has recently been placed on local adaptation, on preservation of genetic diversity and on quality. This has resulted largely

cost to either partner [8].

256 Plant Breeding from Laboratories to Fields

**1.2. Addressed problems and advantages**

the stagnation of yields in cereals in less favorable areas [5].

Under this scenario, participatory research approaches have emerged as a relevant and nec‐ essary response to the problem of conserving genetic diversity also in industrialized coun‐ tries [16]. Participatory plant breeding (PPB) programs are arising world-wide to meet the needs of farmers in low-input and organic environments that are normally overlooked by conventional crop breeders.

Several scientists, as reviewed by [17] discriminate among different types or modes of PPB, which are not necessarily mutually exclusive. However we agree with [18] on that the defi‐ nition of PPB does not imply pre-assigned roles, or a given amount of collaborative work, nor imply that farmers and breeding institutions are the only partners. Experience in prac‐ ticing PPB tells us that a true PPB program is a dynamic process with permanent collabora‐ tion, where both the roles of partners and the extent and the manner in which they collaborate, change with time. As farmers become progressively more empowered the type or mode of participation also evolves.

In PPB programs, farmers are invited to interact with professional breeders in their own farm and intervene at different stages of the breeding program, such as the generation of di‐ versity, selection and seed multiplication. PPB helps farmers and breeders to communicate more efficiently with each other so that breeders can use their knowledge of biological theo‐ ry, statistical design and analysis, to help the farmers' selection and access to a wide range of genetic diversity. Farmers can use their knowledge of their crops and environments and learn simple population genetics methodologies that will help them to progress more rapid‐ ly and efficiently in their seed selection. This collaboration should lead to varieties that bet‐ ter meet farmers' needs and conditions and conserve crop genetic diversity *in situ*, thus contributing to sustainable agriculture [15]. PPB exploits the potential gains of breeding for specific adaptation through decentralized selection, defined as selection in the target envi‐ ronment, and is the ultimate conceptual consequence of a positive interpretation of geno‐ type x environment interactions [19].

Conventional plant breeding has aimed at pure lines and increasingly use of hybrids, result‐ ing in a decrease of genetic diversity in conventional varieties. Also genetic diversity at the regional level is decreasing with few varieties grown over large areas [20]. In PPB, biodiver‐ sity is maintained or increased because, besides the use of heterogeneous populations with an inherent high level of diversity, different varieties are selected at different locations. With PPB, decision on which variety to release depend on the initial adoption by farmers; the process is demand-driven. This is expected to increase adoption rates and also reduce pro‐ duction risks, since the farmers gain knowledge of the variety's performance as part of the selection process [19].

The essential advantages of PPB over CPB involve: better targeting of local environmental conditions, better definition of selection criteria important to the end-users, faster and high‐ er adoption of improved cultivars by the farmer and increase/maintenance of genetic variabil‐ ity. PPB also gives voice to farmers and elevates local knowledge to the role of science [19].

Participative approaches to agricultural research and development are now extensively used throughout the world to help define and address the practical research needs of farmers. They have proved useful in solving practical problems in complex and diverse farming sys‐ tems, characteristics typical of organic farming and low input systems. In the case of maize breeding, very effective PPB projects are reported all over the world. This is the case of the Andean region (Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia) [21], Brazil [22, 23], China [24], Ethiopia [25], Ghana [26], India [27, 28], Kenya [29], Mexico and Honduras [30], Nepal [31] and in Nigeria [32]. In Portugal, a very successful long running PPB project in maize (the VASO project, Vale do Sousa - Sousa Valley) is on going since 1984 [33]. This PPB project was developed to cover the needs of small maize farmers, with scarce land resources, in polycropping systems for human uses (bread production). This project has recently been enlarged and extended to other regions of the country and special attention is now given to quality traits such as nutri‐ tional and health beneficial quality aspects besides the already considered technological ability for bread production.
