Erika Salazar
Researcher, La Platina Genetic Resources Unit - Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias
Erika Salazar is an Agricultural Engineering from the University of Chile and Doctor in Agricultural Sciences of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, with a specialization in the conservation and genetic diversity in cultivated species. Since 2004, she has served as a researcher at the Genetic Resources Unit and as the curator of the La Platina Germplasm Bank at INIA.
Her efforts in collecting and repatriating germplasm have significantly enriched INIA's ex-situ germplasm conservation network by incorporating hundreds of landraces. She conducted the pioneering study on the state of ex-situ conservation for both wild and cultivated species in Chile. Her groundbreaking work includes the development and implementation of an integrated conservation model, which encompassed the establishment of the first local seed bank and the creation of a network of multiplier farmers, all in collaboration with INIA La Platina research center.
Other accomplishments, are the creation of the first ex-situ seed bank of horticultural species, and the first national Vitis germplasm collection in Chile. Her projects and publications are related with the development of conservation models for cultivated species, morphological and molecular characterization of several INIA germplasm collections, a comprehensive exploration of peasant agriculture and its relationships with landraces, and the analysis of local diversity within specific territories.
