Chile Expedition

   The TGRC led a plant collecting expedition to northern Chile (Antofagasta and Tarapaca regions) in March/April of 2001, accompanied by representatives from the Universidad de Chile and INIA. Funding was provided by the USDA-Plant Exchange Office. The goal of this trip was to increase representation of the two tomato-like nightshades, Solanum lycopersicoides and S. sitiens, of which 4 and 8 new populations were collected, respectively. In addition, 14 collections of L. chilense and 2 of L. peruvianum were made. The new germplasm significantly improves the status of the Solanum species in the TGRC collection. In particular, the number of S. sitiens accessions was more than doubled by this trip, and greatly increased the geographic range of its populations maintained ex situ. Our collection at Mina La Escondida (LA4105) is at least 118 Km south of any S. sitiens collections made prior to this trip, and may represent the southern limit of its natural distribution. For S. lycopersicoides, our new collections in the Rio Camarones drainage fill in a geographical gap between existing populations to the north (Putre area) and south (Camina drainage). Our collections of L. chilense include new populations in the vicinity of San Pedro de Atacama at over 3540 m elevation, the highest known altitude for this species and therefore a likely source of chilling tolerance.

Seed samples of these new wild accessions will be made available after regeneration at Davis, a process expected to take several years to complete due to the large number of nightshade populations, which have a longer generation time.

As per our agreement with INIA, distribution of these recent collections will require that users sign a Material Transfer Agreement governing use of the germplasm. The conditions specified in this MTA are consistent with current NPGS policy on distribution of germplasm to 3rd parties.

For additional information, please consult the following files:

-View the full report on our 2001 trip to Chile: chile.doc (Word format).

-View map of trip route and sites of collections: chile.doc.

-View the full MTA: chile.pdf

Chile: