葫芦的起源、传播与驯化研究

Study on the Origin,Migration and Domestication of Bottle Gourd(Lagenaria siceraria)

在全球视野下,葫芦的驯化远远早于农业的兴起,它的栽培起源、传播与驯化等问题的研究一直是西方学术界所关注的研究课题,对于研究狩猎采集阶段的生业情况以及早期植物驯化等问题有十分重大的学术意义。一般认为,葫芦起源地在非洲东部,距今15000-10000年开始通过人类活动或者洋流运动向世界各地传播。目前在传播的问题上仍存在许多争议,一些学者认为亚洲地区的葫芦可能直接自非洲传入,而美洲地区的葫芦则可能通过人类活动自亚洲传入或者依靠洋流直接自非洲传入。现代葫芦野生种群的发现对解决驯化问题有较大帮助,果壳增厚可能是葫芦驯化的重要标志。关于葫芦的研究一直以来呈现多学科结合的特点,分子生物学的应用在近年来的研究中扮演着较为重要的角色。

The past few hundred years have witnessed debates over the origin,spread and domestica-tion of bottle gourd(Lagenaria siceraria).The domestication of bottle gourd from a global perspective seems to have been far earlier than the rise of agriculture,which is of great significance to the studies of hunt-er-gatherers and early plant utilization.Today,the origin of bottle gourd is often argued to be from eastern Af-rica.The driving force of its trans-regional movement might be either human activities or ocean current.Some scholars argue that the bottle gourd in Asia may be directly introduced from Africa,while the bottle gourd in America from Asia due to human activities or directly from Africa by ocean current.The discovery of modern wild population of bottle gourd in Africa to a great extent contributes to the study of domestication issue.Thickening fruit shell is considered as an important sign of bottle gourd domestication.The method of molecular biology has been playing an essential role in some more recent studies concerning bottle gourd.