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Morphological characterization of African bush mango trees (Irvingia species) in West Africa

  • Notes on Neglected and Underutilized Crops
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Abstract

The variation of the morphological characters of bitter and sweet African bush mango trees (Irvingia species) was investigated in the Dahomey Gap which is the West African savannah woodland area separating the Upper and the Lower Guinean rain forest blocks. African bush mangoes have been rated as the highest priority multi-purpose food trees species that need improvement research in West and Central Africa. A total of 128 trees from seven populations were characterized for their bark, fruits, mesocarp and seeds to assess the morphological differences between bitter and sweet trees and among populations. Multivariate analysis revealed that none of the variables: type of bark, mature fruit exocarp colour, fruit roughness and fresh mesocarp colour, could consistently distinguish bitter from sweet trees in the field. The analysis of the measurements of fruits, mesocarps and seeds demonstrated that bitter fruits have the heaviest seeds and this consistently distinguishes them from sweet fruits. However, the measurements of the fruit, mesocarp and seed did not have a joint effect in grouping types and populations of ABMTs. This indicates high diversity with a potential for selection existing across all phytogeographical regions investigated. The sweet trees of Couffo and those of Dassa in Benin are clearly different from all other populations. This can be attributed to traditional domestication (bringing into cultivation) and climate, respectively. The large fruits and the heavy seeds of the cultivated populations are evidence of successful on-going traditional selection of sweet trees in the Dahomey Gap.

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Acknowledgments

This project was funded by the Dutch Organization for International Cooperation in Higher Education (NUFFIC, the Netherlands), and the International Foundation for Science (IFS/Grant No: D/4672-1, Stockholm, Sweden) provided additional significant means for fieldworks. We thank them and are sincerely grateful to their donors. We are also particularly grateful to the personnel of the Laboratory of Botany, University of Lomé, Togo and to Robert Kaman for their assistance during the study. Judicaël Vihotogbé, Bienvenu Kpeki and Oscar and André Akpakla were deeply involved in collecting the fruits and measurements; their assistance was simply great and we sincerely thank them. Finally, we are grateful to all local farmers that freely permitted us to collect their fruits.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Applied Ecology; Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, 01 BP 526, Cotonou, Benin

    Romaric Vihotogbé

  2. Biosystematics Group, Wageningen University, Gen. Foulkesweg 37, 6703 BL, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Romaric Vihotogbé & Ronald G. van den Berg

  3. Naturalis Biodiversity Center (Section NHN), Biosystematics Group, Wageningen University, Gen. Foulkesweg 37, 6703 BL, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Marc S. M. Sosef

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  1. Romaric Vihotogbé
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Correspondence to Romaric Vihotogbé.

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Vihotogbé, R., van den Berg, R.G. & Sosef, M.S.M. Morphological characterization of African bush mango trees (Irvingia species) in West Africa. Genet Resour Crop Evol 60, 1597–1614 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-013-9969-0

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