As Plantas Alimentícias Não Convencionais (PANC): multifuncionalidades e conservação

Abstract

Unconventional Food Plants are known by the acronym PANC and scientific studies on occurrence, distribution, use and conservation need to be expanded in the literature. These species of plants have nutritional and medicinal properties, among others, unique and unmatched, because they are mostly rustic species and resilient to stressors and anthropogenic activities. To advance in obtaining information, this study aimed to study the relationship between the use and consumption of PANC in the Amazon and make projections of ecological niche for future climate scenarios for the Brazilian phytogeographic domains. It analyzed the knowledge that residents and marketers have about the PANC in five cities in Amazonas, Manaus, Tabatinga, Novo Airão, Humaitá and Itacoatiara, through interviews and Content Analysis, showed up plant species that are used in the daily lives of residents and are used for food and medicinal purposes. In the cities surveyed, only six species of PANC were found under commercialization at the fairs: Chenopodium ambrosioides L. ("Mastruz"), Acmella Oleracea (L.) R.K. Jansen ("Jambu"), Fridericia chica (Bonpl.) L.G. Lohmann ("Crajirú"), Kalanchoe pinnata (Lam.) Pers. ("Coirama"), Pereskia bleo (Kunth) DC. ("Ora-pro- nóbis") e Aloe vera (L.) Burm.f. ("Babosa"), which shows that the species are still little offered in the local trade, due to low demand for food. The research also included studies involving the current and future occurrence of four species of PANC, considering the scenarios RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5. The distribution of species of PANC, Xanthosoma taioba E. G. Gonç ("taioba") and Pereskia bleo (Kunth) DC. ("ora-pro-nóbis") was affected in both climatic scenarios with reduction of climate suitability area. For the RCP 8.5 scenario, the largest loss of climate suitability area occurred in three Brazilian phytogeographic domains: Cerrado, Caatinga and Amazon. It was also evidenced for the species Erygium foetidum L. ("chicory") and Fridericia chica (Bonpl) L. G. Lohmann ("crajirú") for the scenario RCP 8.5 severe reduction of areas of climatic suitability in the phytogeographic domains Pampa, Pantanal and Amazon, being practically extinct for the period of 2051 - 2070. From the knowledge of the importance of these species for small farmers and the regional economy, it is indicated to carry out sampling and seed collections of populations of species with wide genetic variability, for the implementation of new plantations and development of collections for the conservation of genetic variability.