Characterization Of Farmer-Held Bambara Groundnut (VignaSubterranea (L.) Verdc.)Germplasm Collections FromLake Victoria Basin, Kenya Using Qualitative Traits: A Basis For Crop Genetic Improvement.

Abstract

Bambara groundnut (Vignasubterranea (L.)Verdc.)is the second most important African indigenous grain legume after cowpea. The crop is majorly grown for its food and nutrition provisions and health benefits. Bambara groundnut is currently neglected and underutilized in the Lake Victoria Basin of Kenya. Most cultivars grown by farmers in the Lake Victoria Basin have unknown characteristics. A field study comprising of six farmer-held accessions was carried out during the 2018/2019 cropping season at three agro-ecological zones, within the diverse Lake Victoria Basin in Kenya. The field experiments were conducted at Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) farms namely, Alupe in Busia, County, Kibos in Kisumu County and at Oyani in Migori County. The trials were conducted to characterize the landraces' qualitative traits. The experimental design used was a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. In all the zones, the qualitative characters were the same for individual genotypes. The results showed high phenotypic variations among the accessions. The germplasm had a high proportion of oval leaflet shape (50%), brown pod colours (66.67%), pod shape ending in a point, round on the other side (66.67%), absence of eye pattern (50%) and cream seed testacolour (50%). The Shannon-Weiner diversity index (H') indicated that all phenotypic characters studied amongst the six accessions showed high levels of diversity. Terminal leaflet shape and seed eye pattern had the highest index of 2.0708, followed by pod texture (2.062). The seed testa pattern had the least index (1.6501). The cluster analysis revealed two major clusters. The accessions from Migori were grouped in one cluster, whereas the accessions from Kisumu and Busia counties were also grouped in another cluster. These results may be useful in formulating Bambara groundnut breeding programs in the Lake Victoria Basin, Kenya and beyond, as currently there are no improved cultivars of this crop in Kenya. Effective breeding would boost crop productivity and improve food security. However, morphological traits are not stable; hence, further molecular analysis is required to determine and back up the genetic variations among the accessions as observed in this study