CURRENT, POTENTIAL AND ECOPHYSIOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF PUMPKIN SPECIES IN NAYARIT, MEXICO

Abstract

Pumpkin (Cucurbita spp.) is a genus originating in America. Some important pumpkin species originated in Mexico, and it has cultural roots and uses as human food and animal feed. Thus, its use, improvement, and conservation are essential. This research generated maps of the current and potential distribution of cultivated and wild species of pumpkin and identified their eco-physiographic distribution in the state of Nayarit, Mexico. One hundred fourteen records from georeferenced sites of domesticated (Cucurbita moschata, C. pepo, C. argyrosperma, and C. ficifolia) and wild species (C. radicans, C. martinezii) from 66 accessions and 48 herbarium records were used. One hundred and ten bioclimatic, geophysical, and edaphic variables were also used. Geographic information systems (GIS) tools and multivariate procedures, like principal component (PC) and cluster analyses were employed for the study. The current distribution showed that these pumpkin species are present in the four physiographic regions of the state of Nayarit, at altitudes ranging from 7 to 2117 masl. The potential distribution allowed the location of unregistered sites with probable presence of pumpkin. In the eco-physiographic distribution, three PC represented 77 % of the total variability: altitude (m) and temperature (°C) showed the highest correlation with CP1; rainfall (mm), soil characteristics (texture, depth, and pH) and wind speed (km h^-1) correlated with CP2; and precipitation in the three coldest months of the year associated with CP3. In pumpkin species, this information will allow the identification of areas of probable presence for targeted explorations that recognize the environmental conditions of these habitats,