:: Fincas de Ambato :: La Jojoba en el Trópico / Introducción, Referencias, Figuras

Like is explained in the vernalization requirementssection, jojoba needs a season sufficiently cold that allows it to cover its physiological necessities to break the dormancy of the flowers.

In tropical regions the occurrence of a time of the year in which the temperatures get lower, just it is possible to find when they are affected by a special phenomenon, as they are in the coastal deserts of Chile and Peru in South America, or the one of Namibia in Western Africa, where the presence of cold currents regulates the continental temperature. In the rest of these regions, the existing variation created just by its distance with the equator, has demonstrated to be insufficient to satisfy the necessities of chilling requirements of the immense majority of the genotypes of jojoba.

Jojoba is originated in Sonora Desert, which extends between 35° and 23° of North latitude, and °109 and 117° of west longitude. Within this immense region of 31,036,200 has., jojoba presents a discontinuous distribution; nevertheless it is possible to find it growing in innumerable subregions, including the North and South end of this desert. Have been identified wild populations producing in the region between the localities of Todos Santos and Cabo San Lucas, in the state of South California, Mexico, inserted Sonora portion within a tropical region.

Genotypes of jojoba collected in 20 distributed localities traverse of the Sonora Desert (Ayerza, 1990), were planted in two equal parcels, one in the tropical region and the other outside of it. In this last one, all genotypes opened its flowers, whereas in the first, just the genotypes originated in the south of South California, achieved to open its flowers. These observations, allow to suppose that the origin of the specie would be located in the North portion of the Sonora Desert, and that the capacity to reproduce without happening intense periods of vernalization requirements was achieved through the advance towards the south, obtained by this specie during its evolutionary process. The identification of superior genotypes located there would allow to establish commercial plantations in conditions of a cold season absence.

With the objective to obtain a clone variety of jojoba adapted to tropical regions, Fincas de Ambato S.A. has begun a development and research program in their property Anta Muerta , located in the north of the Oran department, province of Salta, to 22° 50' of South latitude, and to 64° 55' of west longitude, to 400 m above the sea level. In table 1-JT can be seen the main weathering characteristics of the property, typical of the denominated ecosystem Las Yungas or Selva Tucumano- Boliviana, where it is located.