The

varieties Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

of Bolivian

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

are the result of thousands of years of

selective breeding Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant mal ...

for superior

agronomic Agricultural economics is an applied field of economics concerned with the application of economic theory in optimizing the production and distribution of food and fiber products. Agricultural economics began as a branch of economics that specif ...

and cooking traits. Climate and

soil diversity Pedodiversity is the variation of soil properties (usually characterised by soil classes) within an area. Pedodiversity studies were first started by analyzing soil series–area relationships (Beckett and Bie, 1978). According to Guo et al. (2003 ...

is a key feature of the landscape of

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, a country extending between 9° to 22° South and 57° to 69° West. The

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

cultures that played a key role in the differentiation of the native Bolivian maize races were the

Aymara Aymara may refer to: Languages and people * Aymaran languages, the second most widespread Andean language ** Aymara language, the main language within that family ** Central Aymara, the other surviving branch of the Aymara(n) family, which today ...

in the north, the ''Sauces'' in central Bolivia, and the Yampara in the south. Specifically, the

adapted maize crop growth to the

Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca (; es, Lago Titicaca ; qu, Titiqaqa Qucha) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. By volume of water and by surface area, ...

plateau, about 3,500-3,800 meters above sea level, a harsh environment, cold, arid, and windy. Traditionally, maize is

crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydroponic ...

ped in the following regions: * Low

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

(200–900

masl The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a North American professional indoor soccer league. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. MASL is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. MASL players ...

) *

Subtropics The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 35° north and ...

(1,000–1,600 masl) * Sub-Andean Chaco (200–1,500 masl) * Inter-

Andean The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the List of mountain ranges#Mountain ranges by length, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range i ...

slopes and valleys (1,700–3,000 masl, as far as the shore of Lake Titicaca at 3,800 masl) Most maize harvested under 1,000 masl is cropped in commercial farms and used to feed

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

Use as food

Maize is a staple ingredient of traditional Bolivian cooking. It is used to prepare typical dishes such as: * ''Api'' - hot drink for breakfast, * ''Chaque'' & ''Lagua'' -

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ing ...

, * ''

Chicha ''Chicha'' is a fermented (alcoholic) or non-fermented beverage of Latin America, emerging from the Andes and Amazonia regions. In both the pre- and post-Spanish conquest periods, corn beer (''chicha de jora'') made from a variety of maize land ...

'' - alcoholic drink, * ''Choclo'' - kernels boiled inside the ear leaves, * ''Confituras'' - cooked popped kernels dressed with

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

, * ''Huminta'' - smashed milky kernels, seasoned and cooked inside the ear leaves, * ''Mote'' - dry cooked kernels, * ''Tostado'' or ''Palomitas de maíz'' -

popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated; the same names also refer to the foodstuff produced by the expansion. A popcorn kernel's strong hull contains the se ...

. Different varieties of maize are used in diverse locally specific culinary recipes. For instance, purple maize can be used to produce a hot beverage called "Api" in the highlands and white maize can be used to make a cold beverage called "Somó" in the lowlands

History

Maize crossed from the

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

vian mountains into Bolivia about 3,000

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...

as a marginal food of the Andean peoples. Primitive maize, with small and popping kernels, and flint

endosperm The endosperm is a tissue produced inside the seeds of most of the flowering plants following double fertilization. It is triploid (meaning three chromosome sets per nucleus) in most species, which may be auxin-driven. It surrounds the embryo and ...

aligned in four distinct rows on the

ear An ear is the organ that enables hearing and, in mammals, body balance using the vestibular system. In mammals, the ear is usually described as having three parts—the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear consists of ...

, later shifted to a decussate eight row alignment. Prior to the Incan rule of Bolivia, selection of the mean primitive ears with eight rows diversified and underwent qualitative specialization (kernel composition, consistency, shape and color), followed by the increase in the number of the rows. The key events of this process were; * the increase in the ear size, * the increase in the number of the

kernels Kernel may refer to: Computing * Kernel (operating system), the central component of most operating systems * Kernel (image processing), a matrix used for image convolution * Compute kernel, in GPGPU programming * Kernel method, in machine learnin ...

per ear, * the increase in the number of the rows of kernels, * the increase in the kernel size, * the change in the kernel texture. Later, selection was directed to link

molecular marker A molecular marker is a molecule, sampled from some source, that gives information about its source. For example, DNA is a molecular marker that gives information about the organism from which it was taken. For another example, some proteins can be ...

s (pigmentation) to the different kinds of present-day varieties. For instance; * semi-flint kernel varieties are yellow, * floury kernel varieties are white, * soft texture kernel varieties are motley. Maize from the " Morocho" and "Perla" varieties crossed the Andes mountain ridge and adapted to the lower altitude and different climates of

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, and the

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian lowlands, before the

arrival Arrival(s) or The Arrival(s) may refer to: Film * ''The Arrival'' (1991 film), an American science fiction horror film * ''The Arrival'' (1996 film), an American-Mexican science fiction horror film * ''Arrival'' (film), a 2016 American science ...

of the

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance peoples, Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of National and regional identity in Spain, national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex Hist ...

in the sixteenth century.

Contemporary classification

Since the mid-1970s, the ''Centro Fitotécnico y Ecogenético de Pairumani'' in

Cochabamba Cochabamba ( ay, Quchapampa; qu, Quchapampa) is a city and municipality in central Bolivia in a valley in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and the fourth largest city in Bolivia, with a population of 63 ...

collected and characterized over 1,500 maize samples. These were studied by environment,

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

, and

cytological Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living and ...

analysis of the

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

s, resulting in the classification of 7 racial complexes, 45 races and hundreds of agro-

ecotype In evolutionary ecology, an ecotype,Greek: ''οίκος'' = home and ''τύπος'' = type, coined by Göte Turesson in 1922 sometimes called ecospecies, describes a genetically distinct geographic variety, population, or race within a species, ...

s. These accessions are presently stored at the Pairumani germplasm bank. On the basis of these and previous studies,

Aureliano Brandolini Aureliano Brandolini (August 8, 1927 – September 5, 2008) was an Italian agronomist and development cooperation scholar. Born in Calolziocorte, Italy, after studying at Liceo Alessandro Manzoni high school in Lecco with Giovanni Ticozzi, he gra ...

and collaborators identified the following racial complexes and races of native maize;''Recursos fitogenéticos de América Latina'', A. Brandolini, G.V. Brandolini, p. 242, CRF Press, Bergamo, 2005 *A. ''Pisanckalla'' (Popcorn) Popcorn kernels very small and hard. Grown everywhere. No change in flowering and ripening cycle when grown in

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

latitudes. * Pasanckalla ** Pasanckalla ** Pasanckalla puca * Pisankalla del valle ** Periquito ** Periquito rojo ** Pisanckalla * Pura ** Pura * Purito ** Purito ** Maíz purito *B. ''Valle alto'' (High valley) Short and anthocyanic plants with very low ear insertion. Grown between 3,000–3,700 masl, in the Lake Titicaca plateau. * Huaca songo ** Huanta songo * Jampe tongo ** Jampe tongo ** Jampi tongo * Paru ** Peru ** Pintado aiquileño ** Niñala ** Pintado *C. ''Harinoso del valle'' (Floury from the valley) Medium to tall plants with usual red stalk. Size, shape (usually large) and color of the kernel greatly variable. Grown in the temperate valleys, 1,500–3,000 masl. * Achuchema ** Achuchema * Aisuma ** Aisuma ** Arrayan ** Azulino * Amarillo harinoso de 8 hileras ** Amarillo cliceño ** Morocho corriente ** Ocho rayas * Blanco yungueño ** Blanco yungueño ** Blanco de tostar ** Yunqueño * Checchi o gris de tostar ** Gris de tostar ** Jancka sara ** Jancka sara tuero ** Puka checchi * Chuspillo ** Chulpi ** Chulpi amarillo ** Chulpi blanco ** Chulpillo * Concebideño ** Concebideño ** Huillcaparu breve ** Morocho Yamparáez * Colorado ** Colorado ** Culli Entre ríos ** Culli Monteagudo * Hualtaco ** Blanco aiquileño ** Blanco de Monteagudo ** Blanco pojo ** Yuraj sara * Huillcaparu ** Huillcaparu * Kajbia ** Kajbia ** Kajbia huata ** Kajbia tuero * Kellu hillcaparu ** Kellu huillcaparu ** Amarillo ** Hillcaparu patillo * Kulli ** Kulli ** Collpa culli ** Colorado potosino ** Culli ** Kulli chojnocollo ** Taimuro * Oke ** Oke *D. ''Morocho'' (Dark) Semi-flint or semi-dent kernels, yellow or orange, thin and hard external starch layer and floury internal layer. Grown in the temperate valleys and subtropical regions, 1,000–3,000 masl. * Karapampa ** Karapampa chico * Kellu o amarillo 8 surcos ** Chuchuquella ** Amarillo 8 surcos ** Morocho Aiquile ** Morocho de chuquisaca ** Morocho 8 surcos ** Tarijeño ** Tojmac kellu * Morochillo de Tarija ** Kajeño ** Liqueneño ** Morocho de Tarija * Morocho chaqueño ** Amarillo duro ** Morocho Colorado * Morocho chico ** Amarillo 8 rayas ** Morocho Panti Pampa ** Morocho Tarijeñito ** Patillo ** Perla amarillo * Morocho grande ** Morocho grande ** Amarillo huancaní ** Morocho Entre ríos * Morocho 8 hileras ** Amarillo pojo ** Kara pampa pintado ** Morocho ** Morocho criollo ** Morocho Guadalupe ** Morocho puente ** Morocho tomina ** Suricha ** Turareña ** Morocho trigal * E. ''Amazónico'' (Amazonian) Tall and long cycle plants, with broad ears (Enano excepted), and joint floury or semi-flint kernels, large and brittle rachis. Grown in the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

and partially in the Chaco lowlands, 150–1,000 masl. * Bayo ** Bayo ** Amarillo blando aiquileño ** Bayto * Blando amazónico ** Blando amarillo * Blando cruceño ** Amarillo cruceño ** Amarillo blando ** Blanco blando ** Blando * Canario ** Aperlado sauci * Duro amazónico ** Blanco aperlado ** Blanco duro ** Duro beniano ** Duro robore * Enano ** Enano * Perla pandino ** Perla pandino * F. ''Perla'' (Pearl) Mostly short cycle plant with white and round kernels. Grown in the valleys and plains. * Aperlados ** Amarillo Tacacoma ** Aperlado ** Aperlado Tomina ** Blanco rosa * Chake sara ** Chake sara ** Kjachichi * Perla ** Perla ** Arrocillo perlita ** Grande ** Perla blanco ** Perla chuqui * Perlas de los llanos ** Blanco perla ** Duro blanco * Perlas de los valles ** Arrocillo ** Uchuquilla ** Uchuquilla de Quillacollo ** Uchuquilla potosino * Perola ** Perola ** Arrocillo duro ** Blanco cruceño ** Blanco Roboré ** Blanco San José * Perla amarillo ** Azucarillo ** Huerteño ** Perla mojo toro ** Santa Elena *G. ''Cordillera'' (Mountain range) Grown in the transition zone between Chaco and the Andes meso-thermic valleys. * Blanco mojo y Blanco camba ** Blanco mojo ** Blanco camba * Cordillera ** Cordillera ** Argentino ** Tucumano * Morochos de 14 hileras o Morocho camba ** Cordillera Colorado ** Duro ** Morocho camba ** Morocho cruceño *H. ''Razas de reciente introducción'' (Recently introduced races) They include varieties such as ''Cubano amarillo'', crossed with local races. Grown in the tropics and sub-tropics, 250-1,500 masl.

References

External links

International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center official site
*
Fundación Simón I. Patiño
{{corn Agriculture in Bolivia Maize varieties

Use as food

History

Contemporary classification

See also

References

External links