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Diversity in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) local populations from Greece

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Abstract

Cowpea cultivation in many countries around the Mediterranean Basin depends on a number of locally adapted populations conserved on-farm at a small scale, rather than on the use of modern varieties. Documentation, characterization and exploitation of traditional local populations could contribute to their conservation and utilization as sources of desirable characteristics. Therefore, a study was conducted to (a) characterize, (b) assess diversity and (c) classify 23 on-farm conserved local cowpea populations based on 32 agro-morphological traits. Investigations on diversity of characteristics related to seed yield, mineral and seed crude protein content as well as on correlations among them were carried out. A relatively high phenotypic diversity was observed. In particular, a high level of within population diversity was found (\( \bar{H}s \) = 0.34) exceeding that among populations’ diversity (Gst = 0.27). Principal component analysis classified the majority of local populations into two groups (mainly according to populations’ seed coat color and eye color), further divided into six subgroups regardless of the populations’ geographical origin. Significant differences were also observed among the populations studied for potassium and calcium, as well as for their seed crude protein content which ranged from 22.14 to 28.37 %. The results show appreciable levels of intra- and inter-phenotypic diversity in on-farm conserved cowpea populations, which indicates the existence of a valuable gene pool for future exploitation in breeding programs.

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Acknowledgments

This research study was funded by the 7th Framework Programme: “EUROLEGUME”: “Enhancing of legumes growing in Europe through sustainable cropping for protein supply for food and feed” (Grant Agreement No: 613781). We would like to thank Dr. R. Thanopoulos from Agricultural University of Athens, for participating in the collection of the seed material, the farmers that shared with us the seeds of their landraces used in this study and Mr. A. Georgiou for his contribution. We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions to improve the manuscript.

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Correspondence to P. J. Bebeli.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Online Resource 1

Origin and geographical data of the cowpea local populations (DOC 60 kb)

Online Resource 2

Mean phenotypic diversity values (\( \bar{H}p \)) of cowpea populations and min and max Hp values observed within each studied population using all agro-morphological traits studied (DOCX 19 kb)

Online Resource 3

Pearson correlation coefficients among yield traits, seed mineral and protein content. Number of nodes (NN), number of main branches (NBR), plant height (PH), growth habit (GH), days to 1st flower (DFL), flowering duration (DUFL), days to 1st mature pod (DMAT), height to 1st pod (H1POD), number of pods per plant (NPOD), pod length (PODL), number of seeds per pod (SPOD), number of seeds per plant (SPL), seed weight per plant (SW), hundred seed weight (HSW), seed crude protein (CP (%)) (DOCX 21 kb)

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Lazaridi, E., Ntatsi, G., Savvas, D. et al. Diversity in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) local populations from Greece. Genet Resour Crop Evol 64, 1529–1551 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-016-0452-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-016-0452-6

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