Some aspects of avocado (Persea americana Mill.) diversity and domestication in Mesoamerica

Avocado (Persea americana Mill.) is a major tropical fruit, with origin in Mesoamerica area. Avocado is a very variable species and taxonomically poorly understood. It has been grown in the Neotropics since ancient times and it seems that the domestication of this tree in Mesoamerica started before other annual crops. In addition, it seems that much of avocado diversity as ecological differences, were originated as a result of cultural diversity. In view of this, avocado represents an interesting model to study domestication of tropical trees and develop forest management and germplasm conservation strategies. At present time, P. americana is worldwide distributed with Mexico as the main producer. However, there are some aspects on the origin, dispersion, and domestication of the species that remain to be answered. In this paper, we present a survey of these issues from the earliest to present time in Mesoamerica.