Diversity and relationships among morphological characters in the sweet potato collection of Cote D’Ivoire

Abstract

Collection and characterisation of plant materials is a crucial step in crop improvement programmes. The objective of this study was to characterise a sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas [L.] Lam.) collection from the Centre National de Recherche Agronomique (CNRA) in Côte d’Ivoire, based on morphological characters, and to elucidate the relationships among them. The experiment was carried out in a Fisher design with two replications. The descriptive analyses revealed a substantial phenotypic variation within the collection. The multiple correspondence analysis showed that 15 characters out of 27 were the most discriminant to explain the variation. Furthermore, significant relationships were observed between phenotypic traits related to leaves, stems and storage roots. The hierarchical classification placed accessions into three genetic groups regardless of their geographical origin and revealed the existence of duplicate accessions. The results obtained could be used for the selection, improvement and sustainable management of sweet potato genetic resources.

Key words: Accessions, Ipomoea batatas, multiple correspondence analysis