Re-examining the archaeo-cultural histories of landrace fruit trees

Guy Bar Oz and Joshua Schmidt

In preparation for Trends in Plant Sciences

Historical farmers used selection and diffusion to ensure that the landrace fruit trees grown in traditional horticultural regimes were well-suited to their local habitats. The progeny of these trees remains an important source for the contemporary improvement of crop resilience and productivity. In fact, thousands of relic landrace fruit trees endure in rural habitats throughout the Mediterranean world and the ancient Near East. The rich archaeo-cultural heritage of these diverse landrace cultivars contains extensive individual lineages and unique histories of resilient environmental adaptation whose study can provide profound insights into their centuries of persistent cultivation. Indeed, their inherent resilience suggests that their varietal genetics can gainfully contribute to improving food security and bolstering agricultural sustainability in the face of increasingly adverse climatic conditions. Of particular interest are autochthonous landrace fruit trees that were bred by dryland farmers living in drought-prone arid environments. The article relates to landrace fruit trees as horticultural heritage time capsules and discuss several analytic approaches to obtaining the untapped living knowledge held within these archaeological remnants.