Researchers cross Brazil to collect vanilla samples

More than 10 thousand kilometers were covered on roads that cross the Cerrado, the Atlantic Forest and the Amazon, passing through several municipalities in the country. This was the journey of the Embrapa team in search of Brazilian vanilla species. The result: 19 species collected and 60 specimens incorporated into the Embrapa Vanilla Germplasm Bank, started in July 2022, in Brasília (DF). After three expeditions, in Bahia, Mato Grosso and Pará, the collection increased from around 70 to 130 specimens of aromatic species. Only on the last trip, heading to Pará, 16 species were brought to Brasília, some collected in their natural habitat, in the municipalities of Belém, Cametá and Tomé-Açu and surrounding areas, and others coming from local orchid growers, who already had some of these plants . “This corresponds to around 30% of the species that occur in Brazil”, reports Embrapa Cerrados (DF) researcher Fernando Rocha, responsible for the activity. “We are assembling one of the ...