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Oman at the cross-roads of inter-regional exchange of cultivated plants

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Abstract

During the past years the Sultanate of Oman which is located at the south-eastern tip of the Arabian peninsula has been studied for its cultivated plant genetic resources. Data from this study, that commenced in 2002 and information from the literature have been combined to document the millenia-old cultivation history of many agri- and horticultural crop plants in this country at the cross-roads of inter-regional exchange. The resulting checklist comprises 194 species from 133 genera and 53 families and 11 geoelements of 136 selected species. Notable inputs came from South and Southeast Asia with 21.3%, from the Near East and East Mediterranean with 20.6%, and from Central and South America with 15.4%. Most elements are allochthonous while real autochthonous elements such as Boswellia sacra Flueck. and Prunus arabica (Oliv.) Meikle are rare. A remarkable infraspecific variation in several crop species and evidence of introgession were found indicating an evolutionary power of Oman that is similar to that of South Italy.

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Acknowledgements

The contributions of Dr. Annette Patzelt of the Oman Botanic Garden, Dr. Herbert Dietz of the Sultanate of Oman’s Royal Court Affairs and Dr. Maher Nagieb, formerly Sultan Qaboos University of Oman, is highly appreciated. We thankfully acknowledge the cooperation of the Extension Center Al Jabal al Akhdar of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries of Oman and the infrastructural support of the College of Agriculture and Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat. Thanks also to Dr. Eike Luedeling for drawing the map of the ancient Incense Road. This research was financially supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) within the project BU1308.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agrobiodiversity, Institute of Crop Science, University of Kassel, Steinstr. 19, 37213, Witzenhausen, Germany

    K. Hammer

  2. Organic Plant Production and Agroecosystems Research in the Tropics and Subtropics, Institute of Crop Science, University of Kassel, Steinstr. 19, 37213, Witzenhausen, Germany

    J. Gebauer & A. Buerkert

  3. College of Agriculture, University of Nizwa, P.O. Box 33, 616, Birkat Al Mouz, Nizwa, Sultanate of Oman

    S. Al Khanjari

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  1. K. Hammer
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Correspondence to J. Gebauer.

 

 

Table 3 Appendix: Checklist of cultivated plants in Oman
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Recently the second volume of the Flora of Oman appeared (Ghazanfar 2007) with notes on the following cultivated plants (alphabetical order, species not yet included in our checklist are in bold face):

Acacia auriculiformis A. Cunn. ex Benth. (Leguminosae), Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd. (Leguminosae), Acacia nilotica (L.) Delile (Leguminosae), Albizia lebbek (L.) Benth. (Leguminosae), Apium graveolens (Umbelliferae), Azadirachta indica (Meliaceae), Caesalpinia pulcherrima (L.) Sw. (Leguminosae), Citrus aurantiifolia (Rutaceae), Citrus latifolia Tanaka (Rutaceae), Citrus limettioides (Rutaceae), Citrus limon (Rutaceae), Clitoria ternatea L. (Leguminosae), Conocarpus lancifolius Engl. et Diels (Combretaceae), Coriandrum sativum (Umbelliferae), Daucus carota (Umbelliferae), Delonix regia (Boj. ex Hook.) Raf. (Leguminosae), Lawsonia inermis (Lythraceae), Leucaena leucocephala (Leguminosae), Mangifera indica (Anacardiaceae), Medicago sativa (Leguminosae), Parkinsonia aculeata L. (Leguminosae), Petroselinum crispum (Umbelliferae), Pithecellobium dulce (Leguminosae), Prosopis juliflora (Swartz) DC. (Leguminosae), Prunus arabica (Rosaceae), Prunus domestica (Rosaceae), Prunus dulcis (Rosaceae), Prunus persica (Rosaceae), Psoralea corylifolia (Leguminosae), Punica granatum (Punicaceae), Ricinus communis (Euphorbiaceae), Rosa damascena (Rosaceae), Senna elata (L.) Roxb. (Leguminosae), Sesbania grandiflora (L.) Poir. (Leguminosae), Sesbania sesban (Leguminosae), Tamarindus indica (Leguminosae), Terminalia catappa (Combretaceae), Trigonella foenum-graecum (Leguminosae), Vicia faba (Leguminosae), Vigna radiata var. sublobata (Leguminosae), Ziziphus spina-christi (Rhamnaceae).

Morus laevigata was later on considered conspecific with Morus macroura. The species shows a tendency to be distributed westwards. Recently reported also from Saudi Arabia (Chaudhari 1999).

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Hammer, K., Gebauer, J., Al Khanjari, S. et al. Oman at the cross-roads of inter-regional exchange of cultivated plants. Genet Resour Crop Evol 56, 547–560 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-008-9385-z

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