# Vavilov center

A Vavilov center or center of origin is a geographical area where a group of organisms, either domesticated or wild, first developed its distinctive properties. Centers of origin were first identified in 1924 by Nikolai Vavilov. Vavilov posited that the center of origin for a species or genus is the same as its center of diversity, the geographic area where it has the highest genetic diversity, but this equivalence has been disputed by later scholars.

## Plants

Locating the origin of crop plants is basic to plant breeding. This allows one to locate wild relatives, related species, and new genes (especially dominant genes, which may provide resistance to diseases). Knowledge of the origins of crop plants is important in order to avoid genetic erosion, the loss of germplasm due to the loss of ecotypes and landraces, loss of habitat (such as rainforests), and increased urbanization. Germplasm preservation is accomplished through gene banks (largely seed collections but now frozen stem sections) and preservation of natural habitats (especially in centers of origin).

## Vavilov centers

A Vavilov Center (of Diversity) is a region of the world first indicated by Nikolai Vavilov to be an original center for the domestication of plants. For crop plants, Nikolai Vavilov identified differing numbers of centers: three in 1924, five in 1926, six in 1929, seven in 1931, eight in 1935 and reduced to seven again in 1940.
Vavilov argued that plants were not domesticated somewhere in the world at random, but that there were regions where domestication started. The center of origin is also considered the center of diversity.

### Schery (1972) and Janick (2002)

Vavilov centers are regions where a high diversity of crop wild relatives can be found, representing the natural relatives of domesticated crop plants.
Cultivated plants of eight world centers of origin :
| Center | Plants |
| 1) South Mexican and Central American Center | Includes southern sections of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica. Grains and Legumes: maize, common bean, lima bean, tepary bean, jack bean, grain amaranth Melon Plants: malabar gourd, winter pumpkin, chayote Fiber Plants: upland cotton, bourbon cotton, henequen (sisal) Miscellaneous: sweetpotato, arrowroot, pepper, papaya, guava, cashew, wild black cherry, chochenial, cherry tomato, cacao. |
| 2) South American Center | 62 plants listed; three subcenters 2) Peruvian, Ecuadorean, Bolivian Center: Root Tubers: Andean potato, Other endemic cultivated potato species. Fourteen or more species with chromosome numbers varying from 24 to 60, Edible nasturtium Grains and Legumes: starchy maize, lima bean, common bean Root Tubers: edible canna, potato Vegetable Crops: pepino, tomato, ground cherry, pumpkin, pepper Fibre Plants: Egyptian cotton Fruit and Miscellaneous: cocoa, passion flower, guava, heilborn, quinine tree, tobacco, cherimoya, coca 2A) Chiloé Center (Archipelago near the coast of southern Chile) Common potato (48 chromosomes), Chilean strawberry 2B) Brazilian-Paraguayan Center manioc, peanut, rubber tree, pineapple, Brazil nut, cashew, Erva-mate, purple granadilla. |
| 3) Mediterranean Center | Includes all of Southern Europe and Northern Africa bordering the Mediterranean Sea. 84 listed plants Cereals and Legumes: durum wheat, emmer, Polish wheat, spelt, Mediterranean oats, sand oats, canarygrass, grass pea, pea, lupine Forage Plants: Egyptian clover, white clover, crimson clover, serradella Oil and Fibre Plants: flax, rape, black mustard, olive Vegetables: garden beet, cabbage, turnip, lettuce, asparagus, celery, chicory, parsnip, rhubarb, Ethereal Oil and Spice Plants: caraway, anise, thyme, peppermint, sage, hop. |
| 4) Middle East | Includes interior of Asia Minor, all of Transcaucasia, Iran, and the highlands of Turkmenistan. 83 species Grains and Legumes: einkorn wheat, durum wheat, poulard wheat, common wheat, oriental wheat, Persian wheat, two-row barley, rye, Mediterranean oats, common oats, lentil, lupine Forage Plants: alfalfa, Persian clover, fenugreek, vetch, hairy vetch Fruits: fig, pomegranate, apple, pear, quince, cherry, hawthorn. |
| 5) Abyssinian Center | Includes Ethiopia, Eritrea, and part of Somalia. 38 species listed; rich in wheat and barley. Grains and Legumes: Abyssinian hard wheat, poulard wheat, emmer, Polish wheat, barley, grain sorghum, pearl millet, African millet, cowpea, flax, teff Miscellaneous: sesame, castor bean, garden cress, coffee, okra, myrrh, indigo, enset. |
| 6) Central Asiatic Center | Includes Northwest India (Punjab, Northwest Frontier Provinces and Kashmir), Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and western Tian-Shan. 43 plants Grains and Legumes: common wheat, club wheat, shot wheat, peas, lentil, horse bean, chickpea, mung bean, mustard, flax, sesame Fiber Plants: hemp, cotton Vegetables: onion, garlic, spinach, carrot Fruits: pistachio, pear, almond, grape, apple. |
| 7) Indian Center | Two subcenters 7) Indo-Burma: Main Center (India): Includes Assam, Bangladesh and Burma, but not Northwest India, Punjab, nor Northwest Frontier Provinces, 117 plants Cereals and Legumes: chickpea, pigeon pea, urd bean, mung bean, rice bean, cowpea, Vegetables and Tubers: eggplant, cucumber, radish, taro, yam Fruits: mango, tangerine, citron, tamarind Sugar, Oil, and Fibre Plants: sugar cane, coconut palm, sesame, safflower, tree cotton, oriental cotton, jute, crotalaria, kenaf Spices, Stimulants, Dyes, and Miscellaneous: hemp, black pepper, gum arabic, sandalwood, indigo, cinnamon tree, croton, bamboo, turmeric, 7A) Siam-Malaya-Java: statt Indo-Malayan Center: Includes Indo-China and the Malay Archipelago, 55 plants Cereals and Legumes: Job's tears, velvet bean Fruits: pummelo, banana, breadfruit, mangosteen Oil, Sugar, Spice, and Fibre Plants: candlenut, coconut palm, sugarcane, clove, nutmeg, black pepper, manila hemp. |
| 8) Chinese Center | A total of 136 endemic plants are listed in the largest independent center Cereals and Legumes: rice, broomcorn millet, Italian millet, Japanese barnyard millet, sorghum, buckwheat, hull-less barley, soybean, Adzuki bean, velvet bean Roots, Tubers, and Vegetables: Chinese yam, radish, Chinese cabbage, onion, cucumber Fruits and Nuts: pear, Chinese apple, peach, apricot, cherry, walnut, litchi, orange Sugar, Drug, and Fibre Plants: sugar cane, opium poppy, ginseng camphor, hemp. |

### Purugganan and Fuller (2009)

| Center | Plants | Years before present |
| 1) eastern North America | Chenopodium berlandieri, Iva annua, and Helianthus annuus | 4,500–4,000 years |
| 2) Mesoamerica | Cucurbita pepo | 10,000 |
| | Zea mays | 9,000–7,000 |
| 2a) northern lowland neotropics | Cucurbita moschata, Ipomoea batatas, Phaseolus vulgaris, tree crops | 9,000–8,000 |
| 3) central mid-altitude Andes | Chenopodium quinoa, Amaranthus caudatus | 5,000 |
| 3a) north and central Andes, mid-altitude and high altitude areas | Solanum tuberosum, Oxalis tuberosa, Chenopodium pallidicaule | 8,000 |
| 3b) lowland southern Amazonia | Manihot esculenta and Arachis hypogaea | 8,000 |
| 3c) Ecuador (part of 3, 3a, and/or 3b?) and northwest Peru | Phaseolus lunatus, Canavalia plagiosperma, and Cucurbita ecuadorensis | 10,000 |
| 4) western sub-Saharan African | Pennisetum glaucum | 4,500 |
| 4a) west African savanna and woodlands | Vigna unguiculata | 3,700 |
| | Digitaria exilis and Oryza glaberrima | <3,000 |
| 4b) west African rainforests | Dioscorea rotundata and Elaeis guineensis | poorly documented |
| 5) east Sudanic Africa | Sorghum bicolor | >4,000? |
| 6) east African uplands | Eragrostis tef and Eleusine coracana | 4,000? |
| east African lowlands | vegeculture of Dioscorea cayennensis and Ensete ventricosum | poorly documented |
| 7) Near East | Hordeum vulgare, Triticum spp., Lens culinaris, Pisum sativum, Cicer arietinum, Vicia faba | 13,000–10,000 |
| 7a) eastern Fertile Crescent | additional Hordeum vulgare | |
| | goats | 9,000 |
| 8a) Gujarat, India | Panicum sumatrense and Vigna mungo | 5,000? |
| 8b) Upper Indus | Panicum sumatrense, Vigna radiata, and Vigna aconitifolia | 5,000 |
| 8c) Ganges | Oryza sativa subsp. indica | 8,500–4,500 |
| 8d) southern India | Brachiaria ramosa, Vigna radiata, and Macrotyloma uniflorum | 5,000–4,000 |
| 9) eastern Himalayas and Yunnan uplands | Fagopyrum esculentum | 5,000? |
| 10) northern China | Setaria italica and Panicum miliaceum | 8,000 |
| | Glycine max | 4,500? |
| 11) southern Hokkaido, Japan | Echinochloa crusgalli | 4,500 |
| 12) Yangtze River Valley, China | Oryza sativa subsp. japonica | 9,000–6,000 |
| 12a) southern China | Colocasia spp., Coix lacryma-jobi | poorly documented, 4,500? |
| 13) New Guinea and Wallacea | Colocasia esculenta, Dioscorea esculenta, and Musa acuminata | 7,000 |