Abstract
Genetic diversity of 43 Dioscorea dumetorum accessions and two of Dioscorea cayenensis Lam as out-group species was evaluated for qualitative and quantitative traits in two different agro-climatic zones Baham (05°20.040' N/010°22.572’ E and 1634±3 masl, agro-ecological zone III with rainfall of 1500 to 2000 mm, and mean annual temperature of 19°C) and Ekona (04°12.773'N/009°19.425'E and 445±3 masl, agro-ecological zone IV with rainfall of 2500 to 4000 mm and mean annual temperature of 26°C). Forty one (41) morphological characters according to International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) descriptor, including nine quantitative and 32 qualitative characters were analyzed for multivariate analysis using cluster analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), and analysis of variance. For quantitative characters, cluster analysis revealed three major clusters. The first three components with eigen values > 1 contributed 83% of the variability. The PCA results indicate that traits which largely contributed to the variability within and between the accessions were stem length, leaf length, internode number, leaf width, harvest index, leaf number and internode length. Traits such as harvest index, internode number and stem length showed high heritability and high genetic advance. For qualitative traits, cluster and principal component analysis revealed two major clusters in Baham as well as in Ekona. The traits such as spines on stem base, spines on stem above base, spines length contributed to the variability within and between the accessions. However, the limits of morphological characters in the study of diversity have been detected. Key words: Dioscorea dumetorum, morphological traits, characterization, agro-climatic zone, Cameroon.
Highlights
Yams constitute a staple food crop for over 100 million people in the humid and sub humid tropics (Mignouna et al, 2003)
The aim of this study was to assess the genetic diversity of D. dumetorum in two different agro-ecological zones of Cameroon in order to show the influence of environmental conditions on morphological characters
The magnitude of phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) values for all the traits was higher than the corresponding genotypic coefficient of variation
Summary
Yams constitute a staple food crop for over 100 million people in the humid and sub humid tropics (Mignouna et al, 2003). Yams (Dioscorea spp.) belong to the family of Dioscoreaceae and are widely distributed throughout the humid and sub humid tropics with about 600 described species (Coursey, 1976). Commonly grown and consumed in West Africa, Dioscorea dumetorum is the most nutritious (Sefa-Deheh and Afoakwa, 2002). D. dumetorum, which belongs to the family Dioscoreaceae, originated in tropical Africa and occurs in both wild and cultivated forms but its cultivation is still restricted in West and Central Africa (Degras, 1993). Cultivation of D. dumetorum, reported especially in
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