Abstract
BackgroundThe distribution area of pearl millet in West and Central Africa (WCA) harbours a wide range of climatic and environmental conditions as well as diverse farmer preferences and pearl millet utilization habits which have the potential to lead to local adaptation and thereby to population structure. The objectives of our research were to (i) assess the geographical distribution of genetic diversity in pearl millet inbreds derived from landraces, (ii) assess the population structure of pearl millet from WCA, and (iii) identify those geographical parameters and environmental factors from the location at which landraces were sampled, as well as those phenotypic traits that may have affected or led to this population structure. Our study was based on a set of 145 inbred lines derived from 122 different pearl millet landraces from WCA.ResultsFive sub-groups were detected within the entire germplasm set by STRUCTURE. We observed that the phenotypic traits flowering time, relative response to photoperiod, and panicle length were significantly associated with population structure but not the environmental factors which are expected to influence these traits in natural populations such as latitude, temperature, or precipitation.ConclusionsOur results suggested that for pearl millet natural selection is compared to artificial selection less important in shaping populations.
Highlights
The distribution area of pearl millet in West and Central Africa (WCA) harbours a wide range of climatic and environmental conditions as well as diverse farmer preferences and pearl millet utilization habits which have the potential to lead to local adaptation and thereby to population structure
The heritabilities of the four phenotypic traits assessed for the 145 pearl millet in-breds ranged from 0.64 for SV to 0.93 for PL and was 0.80 for PH and 0.89 for FT
Genetic diversity of the examined pearl millet germplasm Irrespective of the considered hierarchy level, the Analyses of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed that about four times more variation was present between landraces than within landraces (Additional file 1)
Summary
The distribution area of pearl millet in West and Central Africa (WCA) harbours a wide range of climatic and environmental conditions as well as diverse farmer preferences and pearl millet utilization habits which have the potential to lead to local adaptation and thereby to population structure. Br.] is an annual, diploid, highly allogamous cereal with seven chromosome pairs [1] It can be grown in a vast range of environmental conditions including environments that are characterized by frequent drought events and poor soil fertility [2]. This is one reason that pearl millet is one of the most important staple food crops in West and Central Africa (WCA) [3]. This, requires in a first step the assessment of genetic diversity and population structure of the species under consideration
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