Cytogenice Studies on Bambara groundnut (<i>Vigna subterranea </i> (L..) verdc)

Abstract

The study reports the result of analysis of chromosomes of Vigna subterranea performed in the mitotic prometaphase and metaphase stages using conventional techniques. The somatic chromosome study was done using the shoot meristem as the root tips persistently showed very low mitotic indices. The result revealed somatic chromosome number of 2n = 22. There was no evidence of polyploidy in any of the accessions. The chromosome morphology was described on the basis of the centromere position. From the F% value, it was evident that the different accessions showed wide range of variation in their karyoptypes. The minimum F% range of 33.33 to 50.00 was recorded for Ac-01, Ac-02 and Ac-03. They had metacentric and submetacentric chromosomes. Ac-04 had F% range of 25.00 to 50.00. With the exception of the 9th chromosome pair that was telocentric, the chromosomes were mostly metacentric and submetacentric. Because the accessions were diploid, the uniformity in chromosome number of the four accessions investigated is a clear indication that they may have evolved from a common ancestor, forming a homogeneous assemblage.

Keywords: Cytogenetics, chromosome, Bambara groundnut, Vigna subterranea

Agro-Science Vol. 3 (2) 2006: pp. 13-20