Pattern of variation and grouping of qualitative morphological characters of bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.)

Abstract

Morphological field evaluation to characterize the phenotypical features of 33 Bambara groundnut accessions was carried out at the Teaching and Research Farm of Department of Crop Science and Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State; Nigeria. Qualitative morphological descriptors showed a varying degree of variation across the Bambara groundnut collections evaluated. In relation to other descriptors, ground colour of eye displayed the highest range of variation, while eye pattern of the accessions recorded the least discriminating feature. The accessions were resolved into five groups based on similarities on morphological characters and not on geographical place of origin.