Abstract
This study was conducted to characterize Dioscorea spp. in Kenya using morphological and molecular characteristics. Data on 22 morphological traits were subjected to cluster analysis and multivariate analysis using principal component (PCA). The dendrogram of cluster analysis revealed three main groups: Species distribution based on PC-1 and PC-2 showed the distantly related species in each quarter; D. alata L. (1st quarter), D. bulbifera L. (2nd quarter), D. cayenensis Lam. (3rd quarter) and D. minutiflora Engl. (4th quarter). In molecular characterization, one sub-cluster grouped D. minutiflora Engl. and D. burkilliana J. Miege as one genetic group. However not all D. minutiflora Engl. species were in one specific cluster showing that there may be variation within the species. D. alata L. and D. bulbifera were seen to be potentially related because they shared a common origin. D. bulbifera L. and D. cayenensis Lam. genotypes clustered together, indicating that the species might be closely related. Generally, the rbcL marker demonstrated the phylogeny of Kenyan Dioscorea spp L. Comparison of morphological and molecular data analysis gave almost similar results. From the study, the phylogenetic relationships of Kenyan Dioscorea spp. were established and morphological and molecular characterization was efficient in establishing species relatedness among Dioscorea spp. Key words: Dioscorea spp., rbcL, principal component analysis, molecular characterization, morphological characterization, yams.
Highlights
Yams (Dioscorea spp.) are important monocotyledonous tuberous plants belonging to the order Dioscoreales, family Dioscoreaceae and the genus Dioscorea (Tamiru et al, 2008; APG III, 2009)
This study aims to establish the relationships of Kenyan Dioscorea species using morphological and molecular characterisation, taking into account the recommendations of previous research
Based on the distribution of specimens in the first quarter, D. alata L. is the most distantly related to that group; whereas in the second quarter D. bulbifera L. is the least similar in the group
Summary
Yams (Dioscorea spp.) are important monocotyledonous tuberous plants belonging to the order Dioscoreales, family Dioscoreaceae and the genus Dioscorea (Tamiru et al, 2008; APG III, 2009). The genus contains about 644 species distributed throughout the tropics in West Africa, South East Asia and Tropical America (Asiedu and Sartie, 2010; Couto et al, 2018). (Ihediohanm et al, 2012) Yams bring food security to about 300 million people in Africa, Asia, parts of South America, Caribbean and the South Pacific Islands (Nanbol and Namo, 2019). Purple yam contains anthocyanin that slows down lipid peroxidation and prevents the onset of cardiovascular disease (Blesso, 2019; Reis et al, 2016)
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