Vavilov center

{{short description|Area where domestication traits arise}} {{Use American English|date=April 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}

thumb|upright=1.22|Vavilov's 1924 scheme suggested that cultivated plants were domesticated in China, Hindustan, Central Asia, Asia Minor, Mediterranean, Abyssinia, Central and South America.

A '''Vavilov center''' or '''center of origin''' is a geographical area where a group of organisms, either domesticated or wild, first developed its distinctive properties.<ref>{{cite web|title=International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture |url=http://www.fao.org/3/a-i0510e.pdf |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |year=2009|page=Article 2}}</ref> Centers of origin were first identified in 1924 by Nikolai Vavilov. Vavilov posited that the center of origin for a species or genus is the same as its ''center of diversity'', the geographic area where it has the highest genetic diversity, but this equivalence has been disputed by later scholars.<ref>{{cite book |last=Singh |first=Dhan Pal |chapter=Chapter 5 - Plant genetic resources |date=January 1, 2021 |title=Plant Breeding and Cultivar Development |pages=129–157 |editor-last=Singh |editor-first=Dhan Pal |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/B978012817563700009X |access-date=February 22, 2025 |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=978-0-12-817563-7 |last2=Singh |first2=Asheesh K. |last3=Singh |first3=Arti |editor2-last=Singh |editor2-first=Asheesh K. |editor3-last=Singh |editor3-first=Arti |doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-817563-7.00009-X}}</ref>

==Plants==

Locating the origin of crop plants is basic to plant breeding. This allows one to locate wild relatives, related species, and new genes (especially dominant genes, which may provide resistance to diseases). Knowledge of the origins of crop plants is important in order to avoid genetic erosion, the loss of germplasm due to the loss of ecotypes and landraces, loss of habitat (such as rainforests), and increased urbanization. Germplasm preservation is accomplished through gene banks (largely seed collections but now frozen stem sections) and preservation of natural habitats (especially in centers of origin).

==Vavilov centers== {{see|Neolithic Revolution|List of food origins}} [[File:Centres of origin and spread of agriculture.svg|thumb|right|upright=2.0|Approximate centers of origin of agriculture in the Neolithic Revolution and its spread in prehistory as understood in 2003: the Fertile Crescent (11,000 BP), the Yangtze and Yellow River basins (9,000 BP) and the New Guinea Highlands (9,000–6,000 BP), Central Mexico (5,000–4,000 BP), Northern South America (5,000–4,000 BP), sub-Saharan Africa (5,000–4,000 BP, exact location unknown), eastern North America (4,000–3,000 BP).<ref name="DiamondandBellwood2003">{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1126/science.1078208 | last1 = Diamond | first1 = J.|author-link1=Jared Diamond | last2 = Bellwood | first2 = P. | title = Farmers and Their Languages: The First Expansions | journal = Science | volume = 300 | issue = 5619 | pages = 597–603 | year = 2003 | pmid = 12714734|bibcode = 2003Sci...300..597D | citeseerx = 10.1.1.1013.4523 | s2cid = 13350469 }}</ref>]]

A Vavilov center (of diversity) is a region of the world first indicated by Nikolai Vavilov to be an original center for the domestication of plants.<ref name="cornell2000">{{cite web |title=Cornell and Polish research scientists lead effort to save invaluable potato genetic archive in Russia |url=https://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/July00/Vavilov.bpf.html |author=Blaine P. Friedlander Jr |date=June 20, 2000 |access-date=March 19, 2008}}</ref> For crop plants, Vavilov identified differing numbers of centers: three in 1924, five in 1926, six in 1929, seven in 1931, eight in 1935 and reduced to seven again in 1940.<ref>{{cite book |author=Vavilov, N. I. |author-link=Nikolai Vavilov |author2=Löve, Doris (trans.) |author2-link=Doris Löve |year=1992 |title=Origin and Geography of Cultivated Plants |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=xxi |isbn=978-0521404273}}</ref><ref name="Corinto 2014">{{cite journal |last=Corinto |first=Gian Luigi |date=2014 |title=Nikolai Vavilov's Centers of Origin of Cultivated Plants With a View to Conserving Agricultural Biodiversity |journal=Human Evolution |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=285–301 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267349404}}</ref>

Vavilov argued that plants were not domesticated somewhere in the world at random, but that there were regions where domestication started. The center of origin is also considered the center of diversity.

=== Schery (1972) and Janick (2002) ===

Vavilov centers are regions where a high diversity of crop wild relatives can be found, representing the natural relatives of domesticated crop plants.{{-}}

{| class="wikitable" |+ Cultivated plants of eight world centers of origin <ref>Adapted from Vavilov (1951) by R. W. Schery, Plants for Man, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1972</ref><ref>History of Horticulture, Jules Janick, Purdue University, 2002</ref> |- ! style="width: 200px;" |Center ! style="width: 200px;" |Subcenter ! style="width: 500px;" |Plants |- | '''1) South Mexican and Central American Center''' Includes southern sections of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica. |  | * '''Grains and Legumes:''' maize, common bean, lima bean, tepary bean, jack bean, grain amaranth * '''Melon Plants:''' Malabar gourd, winter pumpkin, chayote * '''Fiber Plants:''' upland cotton, bourbon cotton, henequen (sisal) * '''Miscellaneous:''' sweet potato, arrowroot, pepper, papaya, guava, cashew, wild black cherry, cochineal cactus, cherry tomato, cacao |- | rowspan=3 | '''2) South American Center''' 62 plants listed; three subcenters | '''''2) Peruvian, Ecuadorean, Bolivian Subcenter''''' | * '''Root Tubers:''' Andean potato, other endemic cultivated potato species. Fourteen or more species with chromosome numbers varying from 24 to 60, edible nasturtium * '''Grains and Legumes:''' starchy maize, lima bean, common bean * '''Root Tubers:''' edible canna, potato * '''Vegetable Crops:''' pepino, tomato, ground cherry, pumpkin, pepper * '''Fibre Plants:''' Egyptian cotton * '''Fruit and Miscellaneous:''' cocoa, passion flower, guava, heilborn, quinine tree, tobacco, cherimoya, coca |- | '''''2A) Chiloé Subcenter''''' | * Common potato (48 chromosomes), Chilean strawberry |- | '''''2B) Brazilian-Paraguayan Subcenter''''' | * manioc, peanut, rubber tree, pineapple, Brazil nut, cashew, Erva-mate, purple granadilla. |- | '''3) Mediterranean Center''' Includes all of Southern Europe and Northern Africa bordering the Mediterranean Sea. 84 listed plants |  | * '''Grains and Legumes:''' durum wheat, emmer, Polish wheat, spelt, Mediterranean oats, sand oats, canarygrass, grass pea, pea, lupine * '''Forage Plants:''' Egyptian clover, white clover, crimson clover, serradella * '''Oil and Fibre Plants:''' flax, rape, black mustard, olive * '''Vegetables:''' garden beet, cabbage, turnip, lettuce, asparagus, celery, chicory, parsnip, rhubarb *'''Ethereal Oil and Spice Plants:''' caraway, anise, thyme, peppermint, sage, hop |- | '''4) Middle East''' Includes interior of Asia Minor, all of Transcaucasia, Iran, and the highlands of Turkmenistan. 83 species |  | * '''Grains and Legumes:''' einkorn wheat, durum wheat, poulard wheat, common wheat, oriental wheat, Persian wheat, two-row barley, rye, Mediterranean oats, common oats, lentil, lupine * '''Forage Plants:''' alfalfa, Persian clover, fenugreek, vetch, hairy vetch * '''Fruits:''' fig, pomegranate, apple, pear, quince, cherry, hawthorn |- | '''5) Abyssinian Center''' Includes Ethiopia, Eritrea, and part of Somalia. 38 species listed; rich in wheat and barley. |  | * '''Grains and Legumes:''' Abyssinian hard wheat, poulard wheat, emmer, Polish wheat, barley, grain sorghum, pearl millet, African millet, cowpea, flax, teff * '''Miscellaneous:''' sesame, castor bean, garden cress, coffee, okra, myrrh, indigo, enset |- | '''6) Central Asiatic Center''' Includes Northwest India (Punjab, Northwest Frontier Provinces and Kashmir), Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and western Tian-Shan. 43 plants |  | * '''Grains and Legumes:''' common wheat, club wheat, shot wheat, peas, lentil, horse bean, chickpea, mung bean, mustard, flax, sesame * '''Fiber Plants:''' hemp, cotton * '''Vegetables:''' onion, garlic, spinach, carrot * '''Fruits:''' pistachio, pear, almond, grape, apple |- | rowspan=2 | '''7) Indian Center''' Two subcenters | '''''7) Indo-Burma Subcenter''''' Main Center (India): Includes Assam, Bangladesh and Burma, but not Northwest India, Punjab, nor Northwest Frontier Provinces, 117 plants | * '''Grains and Legumes:''' chickpea, pigeon pea, urd bean, mung bean, rice bean, cowpea * '''Vegetables and Tubers:''' eggplant, cucumber, radish, taro, yam * '''Fruits:''' mango, tangerine, citron, tamarind * '''Sugar, Oil, and Fibre Plants:''' sugar cane, coconut palm, sesame, safflower, tree cotton, oriental cotton, jute, crotalaria, kenaf * '''Spices, Stimulants, Dyes, and Miscellaneous:''' hemp, black pepper, gum arabic, sandalwood, indigo, cinnamon tree, croton, bamboo, turmeric |- |'''''7A) Siam-Malaya-Java Subcenter''''' statt Indo-Malayan Center Includes Indo-China and the Malay Archipelago, 55 plants | * '''Grains and Legumes:''' Job's tears, velvet bean * '''Fruits:''' pomelo, banana, breadfruit, mangosteen * '''Oil, Sugar, Spice, and Fibre Plants:''' candlenut, coconut palm, sugarcane, clove, nutmeg, black pepper, Manila hemp |- | '''8) Chinese Center''' A total of 136 endemic plants in the largest independent center |  | * '''Grains and Legumes:''' rice,<ref name="Gross Zhao pp. 6190–6197">{{cite journal | last1=Gross | first1=B. L. | last2=Zhao | first2=Z. | title=Archaeological and genetic insights into the origins of domesticated rice | journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume=111 | issue=17 | date=April 21, 2014 | doi=10.1073/pnas.1308942110 | pmid=24753573 | pmc=4035933 | pages=6190–6197 | bibcode=2014PNAS..111.6190G| doi-access=free }}</ref> broomcorn millet, Italian millet, Japanese barnyard millet, sorghum, buckwheat, hull-less barley, soybean, adzuki bean, velvet bean * '''Roots, Tubers, and Vegetables:''' Chinese yam, radish, Chinese cabbage, onion, cucumber * '''Fruits and Nuts:''' pear, Chinese apple, peach, apricot, cherry, walnut, litchi, orange * '''Sugar, Drug, and Fibre Plants:''' sugar cane, opium poppy, ginseng camphor, hemp |}

=== Purugganan and Fuller (2009) ===

<ref name="Purugganan-Fuller-2009">{{cite journal | last1=Purugganan | first1=Michael D. | last2=Fuller | first2=Dorian Q. | title=The nature of selection during plant domestication | journal=Nature | publisher=Nature Research | volume=457 | issue=7231 | year=2009 | issn=0028-0836 | doi=10.1038/nature07895 | pages=843–848| pmid=19212403 | bibcode=2009Natur.457..843P | s2cid=205216444 }}</ref> {| class="wikitable" |- ! Center ! Plants ! Years before present |- | 1) eastern North America | ''Chenopodium berlandieri'', ''Iva annua'', and ''Helianthus annuus'' | 4,500–4,000 years |- | 2) Mesoamerica | ''Cucurbita pepo'' | 10,000 |- |

| ''Zea mays'' | 9,000–7,000 |- | 2a) northern lowland neotropics | ''Cucurbita moschata'', ''Ipomoea batatas'', ''Phaseolus vulgaris'', tree crops | 9,000–8,000 |- | 3) central mid-altitude Andes | ''Chenopodium quinoa'', ''Amaranthus caudatus'' | 5,000 |- | 3a) north and central Andes, mid-altitude and high altitude areas | ''Solanum tuberosum'', ''Oxalis tuberosa'', ''Chenopodium pallidicaule'' | 8,000 |- | 3b) lowland southern Amazonia | ''Manihot esculenta'' and ''Arachis hypogaea'' | 8,000 |- | 3c) Ecuador (part of 3, 3a, and/or 3b?) and northwest Peru | ''Phaseolus lunatus'', ''Canavalia plagiosperma'', and ''Cucurbita ecuadorensis'' | 10,000 |- | 4) western sub-Saharan African | ''Pennisetum glaucum'' | 4,500 |- | 4a) west African savanna and woodlands | ''Vigna unguiculata'' | 3,700 |- |

|- |

| goats | 9,000 |- | 8a) Gujarat, India | ''Panicum sumatrense'' and ''Vigna mungo'' | 5,000? |- | 8b) Upper Indus | ''Panicum sumatrense'', ''Vigna radiata'', and ''Vigna aconitifolia'' | 5,000 |- | 8c) Ganges | ''Oryza sativa'' subsp. ''indica'' | 8,500–4,500 |- | 8d) southern India | ''Brachiaria ramosa'', ''Vigna radiata'', and ''Macrotyloma uniflorum'' | 5,000–4,000 |- | 9) eastern Himalayas and Yunnan uplands | ''Fagopyrum esculentum'' | 5,000? |- | 10) northern China | ''Setaria italica'' and ''Panicum miliaceum'' | 8,000 |- |

| ''Glycine max'' | 4,500? |- | 11) southern Hokkaido, Japan | ''Echinochloa crusgalli'' | 4,500 |- | 12) Yangtze River Valley, China | ''Oryza sativa'' subsp. ''japonica'' | 9,000–6,000 |- | 12a) southern China | ''Colocasia'' spp., ''Coix lacryma-jobi'' | poorly documented, 4,500? |- | 13) New Guinea and Wallacea | ''Colocasia esculenta'', ''Dioscorea esculenta'', and ''Musa acuminata'' | 7,000 |}

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Center Of Origin}} Category:1924 introductions Category:Conservation biology Category:History of agriculture Category:Neolithic