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

Homegardens are complex agroforestry systems with a multilayered vertical structure and a horizontal structure with different uses and management intensities. This environmental heterogeneity allows 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 the fruits are harvested. Here we assessed whether maax pepper is spatially associated with perennial plants or inanimate objects and whether this association affects plant size, fruit yield or viral diseases in traditional homegardens of central Yucatan. According to the results, maax pepper occurred closer to perennials than expected. Although solar radiation beneath the canopy of these perennials was significantly (P < 0.05) lower than in open spaces, this association did not favor the pepper fruit yield. There was a spatial association with inanimate objects (mainly buildings) and peppers were taller and produced more fruits in proximity to 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 could underlie this association. We conclude that perennial plants and inanimate objects typically found in homegardens, as well as management of other plants in these gardens, act to influence the distribution and performance of maax pepper in this traditional agroforestry system.