〔AREIPGR Vol. 36: 128-147, 2020〕 doi:10.24514/00005679 Original Paper Collaborative Exploration of Plant Genetic Resources in Southern Cambodia, 2019 Sathya Prabandaka SUDASINGHE 1), Leakhena MAT 2), Katsuya BANDO 3), Komei YAMAGUCHI 3), Sophany SAKHAN 2), Makara OUK 2), Kenichi MATSUSHIMA 4) 1) Department of Science and Technology, Graduate School of Medicine, Science and Technology, Shinshu University, 8304 Minamiminowa, Nagano 399-4598, Japan 2) Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute, National Road 3, Prateahlang Dangkor, P. O. Box 01, Phnom Penh, Cambodia 3) Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University, 8304 Minamiminowa, Nagano 399-4598, Japan 4) Institute of Agriculture, Academic Assembly Faculty, Shinshu University, 8304 Minamiminowa, Nagano 399- 4598, Japan Communicated by R. MACHIDA-HIRANO (Genetic Resources Center, NARO) Received Sep. 14, 2020, Accepted Dec. 1, 2020 Corresponding author: K. MATSUSHIMA (e-mail: [email protected]) Summary Under the Plant Genetic Resources in Asia (PGRAsia) project, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) and Cambodian Agricultural Research and Department Institute (CARDI) have conducted several collaborative explorations in Cambodia since 2014. As part of the project, we surveyed and gathered plant genetic resources in Southern Cambodia from October 1 to 10, 2019. In the survey, we explored the genetic resources in 14 districts of Southern Cambodia in Svay Rieng, Pery Veng, Kandal, Phnom Penh, Kampong Speu, Preah Sihanouk, Koh Kong, Kampot, and Takeo provinces and collected 85 accessions from farmers’ storages, back yards, or fields. The accessions corresponded to Solanaceae (34), Cucurbitaceae (35), Fabaceae (8), and Amaranthaceae (8). Among 34 Solanaceae accessions, 29 were from C. frutescens. As the present study was conducted in a flood-prone area, vegetable cultivation during the rainy season was low, and flood-tolerant luffa and hyacinth bean were considered important vegetables for cultivation. The collected seeds were divided equally, and half the seeds were conserved at CARDI in Cambodia. The other half was transferred to the Genetic Resources Center, NARO, Japan, under the standard material transfer agreement. KEY WORDS: Cambodia, Solanaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Fabaceae, Amaranthaceae Introduction The Plant Genetic Resource Asia (PGR Asia) project Plant genetic resources are important for was conducted by the National Agriculture and Food improving traits such as pest and disease resistance, Research Organization (NARO) in collaboration with poor environmental condition tolerance, and high yield. the Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development - 128 - Institute (CARDI) since 2014. Cambodia. Previous explorations had been carried out by Tanaka et al. (2016), Sreynech et al. (2016), and Methods Matsushima et al. (2018) to explore Eastern Cambodia A field survey was conducted from October 1 while Matsunaga et al. (2015) and Takahashi et al. to 10, 2019 in Southern Cambodia, including Svay (2015) explored Western and Northwest Cambodia. The Rieng, Pery Veng, Kondal, Phnom Penh, Kampong northern region of Cambodia was explored by Sugita Speu, Preah Sihanouk, Koh Kong, Kampot, and Takeo et al. (2017), Tanaka et al. (2017), and Kondo et al. provinces (Table 1, Fig. 1). We visited farmers’ houses (2019). However, Southern Cambodia was explored only using two vehicles. We could not reach some of the by Matsunaga et al. (2018), and the collected samples places by car because of narrow and flooded roads. At were relatively less than the other three regions. Under that time, we reached those farmers’ places on foot. the PGR Asia project, Shinshu University has already During the interviews, we clarified that most of the explored North, East, and West Cambodia, except in the farmers cultivated imported and improved varieties. Southern region. Therefore, it is necessary to explore and Therefore, we were careful to collect only local collect more genetic resources in Southern Cambodia. varieties of seeds produced by farmers themselves. In The objective of this survey was to explore and collect this survey, we mainly focused on chili pepper under plant genetic resources, mainly Solanaceous (especially the Solanaceae family, and other vegetables belonging Capsicum spp.) and Cucurbitaceous families, in Southern to the Cucurbitaceae family. The accession’s local doi: TableTable 1. 1. Itinerary Itinerary plan plan followed followed duringduring thethe 20192019 explorationexploration inin SouthernSouthern CambodiaCambodia Date Day Itinerary Stay 30-Sep Mon Narita -- Phnom Penh Phnom Penh 1-Oct Tue Visit CARDI and central market Phnom Penh 2-Oct Wed Phnom Penh -- Svay Rieng Svay Rieng 3-Oct Thu Svay Rieng -- Prey Veng Prey Veng 4-Oct Fri Prey Veng -- Kandal -- Phnom Penh -- Kampong Speu Kampong Speu 5-Oct Sat Kampong Speu -- Koh Kong -- Preah Sihanouk -- Koh Kong Koh Kong 6-Oct Sun Koh Kong--Kampot Kampot 7-Oct Mon Kampot -- Takeo Takeo 8-Oct Tue Takeo -- Phnom Penh Phnom Penh 9-Oct Wed Visit CARDI and arrange the collected seed Phnom Penh 10-Oct Thu Phnom Penh -- Narita Lao Thailand Kampong Speu Phnom Penh Kandal Prey Veng Koh Kong Vietnam Preah Sihanouk Svay Rieng Kampot Takeo Fig. 1. Route map of exploration and collection sites of Southern Cambodia in 2019. Fig. 1. Route map of exploration and collection sites of Southern Cambodia in 2019. - 129 - name, utilization, location name, and characteristics of shared between the Genetic Resources Center, NARO, collection site were recorded using farmer information Japan, and CARDI. and field observations during sample collection (Photo 1). Images of the samples were taken at the point of Exploration records collection (Photo 2). Longitudinal sampling locations, 1) Svay Rieng province (October 2) latitudes, and altitudes were recorded (Photo 3) using the We moved to the Savy Rieng province from Phnom Garmin eTrex20J GPS technology (Garmin International Penh city by car then we visited Veal village in Svay Inc., Olathe, KS, USA). The collected seeds were Teap district and collected four plant accessions. The divided equally, and half were conserved CARDI in accessions were two chili peppers (C. frutescens) (No. 1 Cambodia. The other half was transferred to the Genetic and No. 3), one luffa seed (No. 2) from dry fruit, and one Resources Center, NARO, Japan, using the standard amaranth seed (No. 4) from inflorescence of the plant material transfer agreement. in the backyard. The first chili pepper accession (No. 1) was collected from a farmer’s field and did not have any Results and Discussion virus infection. However, the second chili pepper (No. In this exploration, we collected 85 accessions from 3), which was collected from the backyard of a house four families: Solanaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Fabaceae, and in Svay Teap village, had a virus infection in the whole Amaranthaceae. Collected seed samples included 29 plant (Photo 5). chili peppers (only C. frutescens), 5 Solanum spp., 35 Cucurbitaceae, 8 Fabaceae, and 8 Amaranthaceae (Table 2) Prey Veng (October 3) 2). Fruits samples were mainly collected from farmers’ The explorer team left the Svay Rieng and traveled home gardens and seed samples collected from farmers’ to the Prey Veng province (Photo 6) on the same road. seed storage. Usually, farmers stored their seeds in wood We visited Peam Chor district, Mean Chey village and containers or bags and used the cables (Photo 4 and No. Prey Veng city, in the Shkor Dach and Knoy areas, 60). Finally, the collected seeds of samples were equally respectively. We collected a total of 21 seed and fruit samples (No. 5 ̵ No. 25) in Prey Veng province. We mainly explored the accession in forestry areas, home gardens, backyards, and farmers’ fields. Photo 1. Collection of fruit samples in Prey Veng area Photo 3. Determining GPS coordinates Photo 2. Obtaining fruit sample photos Photo 4. Farmer’s seed storage - 130 - Photo 6. Rural area scenery in Prey Veng province Photo 5. Chili pepper plant severely infected with a virus 5) Kampong Speu (October 4 and 5) It was raining heavily on the way from Phnom Penh to Kampong Speu. We explored Chba Moun district, 3) Kandal (October 4) Som Pov village and Tang Kroch district, Choum Phey We reached the Kandal province in Takhmau village in Kampong Speu province. We visited the district and explored Prek Loung village but found only market in Chba Moun district, Pea Nichakam village and one accession of Luffa cylindrica (No. 26). collected six fruit samples of chili pepper (No. 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, and 37), two samples of squash (No. 35 and 4) Phnom Penh (October 4) 36), one sample of angled luffa (No. 28), and one sponge We left Kandal and moved to Kampong Speu gourd (No. 31). district. While traveling to the Kampong Speu, we had to pass Phnom Penh again. Near Phnom Penh, Pou Senchey 6) Preah Sihanouk (October 5) district, on the roadside of the Prey Ta Khea village, we We moved to the Preah Sihanouk province, found an ivy gourd (No. 27). Kampong Seila district, and explored Veal and Thmey Table 2. Total collected accessions in Southern Cambodia in 2019 Table 2. Total collected accessions in Southern Cambodia in 2019 Family genus species Solanacea 34 Capsicum frutescens 29 Solanum melongena 3 torvum 1 trilobatum 1 Cucurbitaceae 35 Luffa cylindrica 10 acutangula 3 Cucurbita moschata 9 Benincasa hispida 4 Cucumis melo 3 sativus 2 Lagenaria siceraria 2 Momordica charantia 1 Coccinia grandis 1 Fabaceae 8 Lablab purpureus 4 Vigna unguiculate 3 radiata 1 Amaranthaceae 8 Amaranthus spp. 8 Total 85 - 131 - villages. In these villages, we collected three chili and Votava 1999). However, only C. annuum and C. peppers (No. 38, 40, and 41), one sponge gourd (No. frutescens are observed in Cambodia, according to 39), and one bottle gourd (No. 42) accessions from the previous studies (Matsunaga et al. 2015, 2018; Tanaka backyards of farmers’ houses. Then, we moved to Koh et al. 2016; Sugita et al. 2017; Kondo et al. 2019). In Kong province. fact, C. annuum was also grown in Southern Cambodia; however, in our survey, most farmers revealed that 7) Koh Kong (October 6) in Southern region, they use imported and improved We visited Koik Chrom village in Thmor Bang chili pepper varieties from Vietnam.