The use of wild and cultivated cacti in Northern province of Córdoba, Argentina.

TRILLO CECILIA; AHUMADA LUJAN; TORRICO CHALABE JULIETA KARINA; DEMAIO PABLO

Bragança

Encuentro; Living in a global world: ethnobotany, local knowledge and sustainability. 58th Annual Meeting of the Society for Economic Botany; 2017

Society for Economic Botany

Northern province of Cordoba shows a mosaic of xerophytic forest environments: salt marshes, shrub lands, thorn forest and fragments of agricultural and livestock landscapes. Semi-Arid climate has allowed to a high regional diversity of wild cacti, and It has promoted the commercial and family farming of cultivate species. In such environments are developing, among others, family-based productive systems: handicrafts for sale, touristic services and livestock production for their own consumption and local trade. These kinds of people identify themselves as "Criollos" and they have a local ecological knowledge useful for management of plant resources in this particular environment. In order to investigate the perception, use and management of wild and cultivated cactus among Criollos in Northern Córdoba, we made 10 field trips between 2014-2016, interviewing 49 persons with semi-structured interviews, complemented with photographs of cacti species and tours along domestic and natural environments. Interviewed persons mentioned 12 wild species, 2 cultivated species of the genus Opuntia and 6 cultivated etnovarieties corresponding to Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill, as well as 15 different uses and 6 management practices, including harvesting, tolerance, protection, induction, transplant and cultivation. Concerning the type of environment in which the species grow: domestic environment or "de la casa" was characterized by the presence of O. robusta and 4 etnovarieties of O. ficus-indica, associated with food, fodder, cleaning uses, trade, ornamental use, apiculture and fences building, and with transplanting and growing as more frequent practices. Natural environment or "monte" was characterized by the presence of 2 etnovarieties of O.ficus-indica and 12 wild species associated with feed and food uses, with collection, protection, tolerance and induction as more frequent practices. For all species and etno-varieties, valuation was important or very important, especially for the inhabitants of villages near salt marshes (?Salinas Grandes?), who have few alternative plant resources for their livestock.