IN SITU GERMPLASM CONSERVATION OF GOSSYPIUM RAIMONDII ULBRICHT (“ALGODONCILLO”) IN THE LAMBAYEQUE REGION (PERU)

Cotton belonging to the genus Gossypium, Malvaceae family, is a natural source for the textile industry. It is an economically important crop that is grown worldwide but can also be used as an ideal model system for several physiological studies in cell elongation and differentiation. Gossypium raimondii is a diploid species from the Peruvian flora and is a progenitor of allotetraploid cottons. However, this species is considered to be critically endangered and therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the population of "algodoncillo" (G. raimondii) across an area of 2.3 ha in La Colmena (Chongoyape-Lambayeque). One hundred and 53 adult plants were registered and a population of 342.28 plants was estimated by natural regeneration. A large number of plants were recorded in El Potrero with around 85 individual shrubs; otherwise, in El Alto plants were recorded with the highest relative height and largest diameter with around 5.06 and 8.73 cm, respectively. In addition, plants with the highest branching rate (3.65 branches) and consequently the largest number of green and ripe fruits in dehiscence (621.38/plant) were recorded in La Quebrada which has also been the only place where an estimated 348.20 naturally regenerated plants were found. La Colmena is the only place in the Lambayeque region where G. raimondii can be found, making it the only natural place of in situ conservation. Based on what is indicated in “El Libro Rojo de las Plantas Endémicas del Perú/Red Book of Endemic Plants of Peru” and the criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), G. raimondii would fall under the category of Endangered species (EN), hence the need for its in situ conservation and to test other methods for germplasm conservation is high.