Farmer selection of drought‐tolerant enset landraces reduces trait diversity in drier environments

Increasing drought stress driven by climate change presents a significant challenge to global food security, requiring crop adaptations. Indigenous knowledge and sustainable practices in drought‐prone agricultural systems may offer effective climate adaptation strategies. This study investigates the...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Chase, Rachel, Borrell, James S., Rodenburg, Jonne, Roux, Nicolas, Wendawek, Abebe, Büchi, Lucie
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Wiley 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/175011
_version_ 1855524295881523200
author Chase, Rachel
Borrell, James S.
Rodenburg, Jonne
Roux, Nicolas
Wendawek, Abebe
Büchi, Lucie
author_browse Borrell, James S.
Büchi, Lucie
Chase, Rachel
Rodenburg, Jonne
Roux, Nicolas
Wendawek, Abebe
author_facet Chase, Rachel
Borrell, James S.
Rodenburg, Jonne
Roux, Nicolas
Wendawek, Abebe
Büchi, Lucie
author_sort Chase, Rachel
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Increasing drought stress driven by climate change presents a significant challenge to global food security, requiring crop adaptations. Indigenous knowledge and sustainable practices in drought‐prone agricultural systems may offer effective climate adaptation strategies. This study investigates the functional traits associated with the reported drought tolerance of enset ( Ensete ventricosum ), a multipurpose Ethiopian staple crop providing food security to more than 20 million people. Through field surveys and farmer interviews along three aridity gradients in southwest Ethiopia, we determined how domestication and farmer cultivation choices have shaped enset trait and landrace diversity. We measured 12 morphological and physiological traits of 430 cultivated enset plants on farms and a subset of traits of 30 wild enset plants. We also conducted interviews on farmers' knowledge of drought and enset, and how it influenced their choice of landraces. We showed that domestication reduced trait variance in cultivated enset and lowered landrace diversity in drier environments. Farmers in drier areas chose landraces with drought tolerance traits, resulting in trait differentiation between wetter and drier farms. Cultivated enset exhibited lower stomatal density and a narrower aridity niche compared to wild enset, suggesting adaptation to reduce water loss. We also found increased leaf wax coverage, leaf number, leaf temperature differential and plant height growth rate and reduced stomatal conductance on drier farms. Our findings are globally relevant, highlighting that climate adaptation and farmer selection may reduce trait and genetic diversity in drier environments, potentially resulting in less adaptative capacity under climate change.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace175011
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2025
publishDateRange 2025
publishDateSort 2025
publisher Wiley
publisherStr Wiley
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace1750112025-11-11T18:48:08Z Farmer selection of drought‐tolerant enset landraces reduces trait diversity in drier environments Chase, Rachel Borrell, James S. Rodenburg, Jonne Roux, Nicolas Wendawek, Abebe Büchi, Lucie climate change adaptation ensete ventricosum drought tolerance indigenous peoples' knowledge Increasing drought stress driven by climate change presents a significant challenge to global food security, requiring crop adaptations. Indigenous knowledge and sustainable practices in drought‐prone agricultural systems may offer effective climate adaptation strategies. This study investigates the functional traits associated with the reported drought tolerance of enset ( Ensete ventricosum ), a multipurpose Ethiopian staple crop providing food security to more than 20 million people. Through field surveys and farmer interviews along three aridity gradients in southwest Ethiopia, we determined how domestication and farmer cultivation choices have shaped enset trait and landrace diversity. We measured 12 morphological and physiological traits of 430 cultivated enset plants on farms and a subset of traits of 30 wild enset plants. We also conducted interviews on farmers' knowledge of drought and enset, and how it influenced their choice of landraces. We showed that domestication reduced trait variance in cultivated enset and lowered landrace diversity in drier environments. Farmers in drier areas chose landraces with drought tolerance traits, resulting in trait differentiation between wetter and drier farms. Cultivated enset exhibited lower stomatal density and a narrower aridity niche compared to wild enset, suggesting adaptation to reduce water loss. We also found increased leaf wax coverage, leaf number, leaf temperature differential and plant height growth rate and reduced stomatal conductance on drier farms. Our findings are globally relevant, highlighting that climate adaptation and farmer selection may reduce trait and genetic diversity in drier environments, potentially resulting in less adaptative capacity under climate change. 2025-11 2025-06-06T07:40:00Z 2025-06-06T07:40:00Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/175011 en Open Access application/pdf Wiley Chase, R.; Borrell, J.S.; Rodenburg, J.; Roux, N.; Wendawek, A.; Büchi, L. (2025) Farmer selection of drought‐tolerant enset landraces reduces trait diversity in drier environments. Plants People Planet, Online first paper (2025-05-19). ISSN: 2572-2611
spellingShingle climate change adaptation
ensete ventricosum
drought tolerance
indigenous peoples' knowledge
Chase, Rachel
Borrell, James S.
Rodenburg, Jonne
Roux, Nicolas
Wendawek, Abebe
Büchi, Lucie
Farmer selection of drought‐tolerant enset landraces reduces trait diversity in drier environments
title Farmer selection of drought‐tolerant enset landraces reduces trait diversity in drier environments
title_full Farmer selection of drought‐tolerant enset landraces reduces trait diversity in drier environments
title_fullStr Farmer selection of drought‐tolerant enset landraces reduces trait diversity in drier environments
title_full_unstemmed Farmer selection of drought‐tolerant enset landraces reduces trait diversity in drier environments
title_short Farmer selection of drought‐tolerant enset landraces reduces trait diversity in drier environments
title_sort farmer selection of drought tolerant enset landraces reduces trait diversity in drier environments
topic climate change adaptation
ensete ventricosum
drought tolerance
indigenous peoples' knowledge
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/175011
work_keys_str_mv AT chaserachel farmerselectionofdroughttolerantensetlandracesreducestraitdiversityindrierenvironments
AT borrelljamess farmerselectionofdroughttolerantensetlandracesreducestraitdiversityindrierenvironments
AT rodenburgjonne farmerselectionofdroughttolerantensetlandracesreducestraitdiversityindrierenvironments
AT rouxnicolas farmerselectionofdroughttolerantensetlandracesreducestraitdiversityindrierenvironments
AT wendawekabebe farmerselectionofdroughttolerantensetlandracesreducestraitdiversityindrierenvironments
AT buchilucie farmerselectionofdroughttolerantensetlandracesreducestraitdiversityindrierenvironments