Non-random distribution of maax pepper plants (Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum L.) in Mayan homegardens: impact on plant size, fruit yield and viral diseases

• Published in: Agroforestry systems 2023-06, Vol.97 (5), p.917-926
• Main Authors: Solís-Montero, Virginia, Bello-Bedoy, Rafael, Munguía-Rosas, Miguel A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agriculture; Agroforestry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Buildings; Capsicum annuum glabriusculum; Crop yield; Cultivated plants; Environmental management; Environmental requirements; Environmental stress; Flowers & plants; Forestry; Fruits; Heterogeneity; Life Sciences; Natural vegetation; Open spaces; Peppers; Radiation; Solar radiation; Vegetables; Viral diseases
• ISSN: 0167-4366; 1572-9680
• DOI: 10.1007/s10457-023-00836-0

Homegardens are complex agroforestry systems with a multilayered vertical structure and a horizontal structure with different uses and management intensities. This environmental heterogeneity allows the establishment of wild and cultivated plants with contrasting environmental requirements in a predictable spatial pattern. Wild pepper is a plant associated with the shade of fleshy-fruited perennials in natural vegetation in North America. In the Yucatan, wild pepper is known as maax pepper by the Maya and is a volunteer plant that commonly grows in homegardens, where the fruits are harvested. Here we assessed whether maax pepper is spatially associated with perennial plants or inanimate objects and whether this association affects plant size, fruit yield or viral diseases in traditional homegardens of central Yucatan. According to the results, maax pepper occurred closer to perennials than expected. Although solar radiation beneath the canopy of these perennials was significantly ( P