Abstract
Dioscorea alata (L.), also referred to as water, winged, or greater yam, is one of the most economically important staple food crops in tropical and subtropical areas. In Côte d’Ivoire, it represents, along with other yam species, the largest food crop and significantly contributes to food security. However, studies focusing on better understanding the structure and extent of genetic diversity among D. alata accessions, using molecular and phenotypic traits, are limited. This study was, therefore, conducted to assess the pattern of genetic variability in a set of 188 D. alata accessions from the National Agronomic Research Centre (CNRA) genebank using 11,722 SNP markers (generated by the Diversity Arrays Technology) and nine agronomic traits. Phylogenetic analyses using hierarchical clustering, admixture, kinship, and Discriminant analysis of principal component (DAPC) all assigned the accessions into four main clusters. Genetic diversity assessment using molecular-based SNP markers showed a high proportion of polymorphic SNPs (87.81%). The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed low molecular variability within genetic groups. In addition, the agronomic traits evaluated for two years in field conditions showed a high heritability and high variability among D. alata accessions. This study provides insights into the genetic diversity among accessions in the CNRA genebank and opens an avenue for sustainable resource management and the identification of promising parental clones for water yam breeding programs in Côte d’Ivoire.
Highlights
Dioscorea alata (L.) yam, commonly known as water yam, winged yam, or greater yam, is one of the most widespread root and tuber crops in tropical and subtropical areas of the world
The application of molecular-based DNA markers in genetic characterization studies could allow a better understanding of the architecture and extent of plant species variability due to wide coverage of the genome and insensitivity to environmental and plant development stage influences as opposed to phenotypic data, which are limited in number and highly influenced by the plant growth phases and environment
The results indicated potential correlations between molecular data and agronomic traits in D. alata accessions, signifying that the relevant genomic regions involved in the variations of phenotypic traits expressions were efficiently detected by the SNP markers
Summary
Dioscorea alata (L.) yam, commonly known as water yam, winged yam, or greater yam, is one of the most widespread root and tuber crops in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. It is produced mainly for its starchy underground tubers [1,2]. In West and Central Africa, yam is extensively produced in the African yam belt, a region including countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Benin, Togo, and Cameroon [5,6,7]. The massive adoption of D. alata cultivation in the country stems from many factors, including ease of propagation, rapid growth allowing it to suppress weeds, stable yield under ranges of soil fertility and ecologies, long post-harvest tuber storage, and high nutritional values for human consumption and livestock feed [11,12,13,14]
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