Assessing the Relatedness of Abelmoschus Accessions using Morphological Characters

Character analysis of Okra (Abelmoschus [Medik.] species, Malvaceae) accessions was carried out using morphological data to evaluate their genetic distinction and relatedness. Seeds of five Abelmoschus accessions (NG/MR/01/10/002, A.E 3, NG/MR/MAY/09/009, NGAE-96-0065 and NG/OA/05/12/160) were obtained from the Gene Bank of National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Ibadan, Nigeria. Based on the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources standard descriptors for Okra, 16 qualitative morphological characters were selected based on their relevance to Abelmoschus breeding, crop distinction, utilization and conservation. The five accessions present significant differences with two of the accessions (NG/MR/MAY/09/009 and NG/OA/05/12/160) closely related and other three (NG/MR/01/10/002, A.E 3 and NGAE-96-0065) closely related too. Accessions NG/MR/01/10/002, A.E 3 and NGAE-96-0065 had medium or intermediate growth habit while accession NG/MR/MAY/09/009 and NG/OA/05/12/160 shows erect growth habit. General aspect of the stem, nature of branching, fruit pubescence, fruit shape, position of the fruit on the main stem, leaf shape, fruit colour, and fruit length at maturity had the most effect on observed relationship between the accessions. Scatter plots derived from the principal component analysis suggest moderate tendency of grouping with the genus where two distinct clusters were obtained from the dendrogram. Together, these results suggest that the five okra accessions may be the descendants of the two commonly cultivated Abelmoschus species in Southern Nigeria (i.e. A. esculentus and A. caillei).