Non-random distribution of maax pepper plants (Capsicum annum var. glabriusculum) in Mayan homegardens: Effects on plant size, fruit yield and viral diseases

Abstract

Abstract Homegardens are complex agroforestry systems with a multilayer vertical structure and a horizontal structure with different uses and management intensities. This environmental heterogeneity allows for the establishment of wild and cultivated plants with contrasting environmental requirements in a predictable spatial pattern. Wild pepper is a plant associated with the shade of fleshy-fruited perennials in natural vegetation in North America. In the Yucatan, wild pepper is known as maax pepper by the Maya and is a volunteer plant that commonly grows in homegardens where it gets little or no management besides fruit harvesting. Here, we assessed whether maax pepper was spatially associated with perennial plants or inanimate objects and whether this association affects plant size, fruit yield or viral diseases. According to the results, maax pepper occurred closer to perennials than expected. Although solar radiation beneath the canopy of these perennials was significantly lower than in open spaces, this association did not favor fruit yield by the peppers. There was a spatial association with inanimate objects (mainly buildings) and peppers were taller and produced more fruits in the proximity of these objects. This association was not mediated by reduced solar radiation. We suggest that the amelioration of other environmental stressor(s) and/or the more intensive management of cultivated plants around buildings may underlie this association. Our results clearly show that both biotic and abiotic elements typically found in homegardens influence the distribution and performance of maax pepper in this traditional agroforestry system.