Intraspecific diversity of Vigna subterranea accessions obtained from multinational sources

Bambara groundnut is a legume with balanced meal. The present study investigated agro-morphological diversity of 61 Bambara groundnut accessions whose passport data were from 21 countries. The Genetic Resources Centre (GRC), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria provided the 61 accessions. The accessions were established in row plots of ten plants on the field at the Centre for Ecological studies, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Seventeen quantitative and two qualitative traits were recorded from the sampling units for each accession. Descriptive and   multivariate statistical analysis were employed on the 61 x 19 matrix mean data. Significant variation exists among the 61 accessions for the 19 descriptors. Mean genetic similarity among the 61 accessions was 0.78, the least (0.48) similarity was between TVSu1750 and TVSu250 and the highest (0.92) was between TVSu391 and TVSu415. TVSu1843 flowered earliest at 35 days. The 61 accessions were grouped into three main clusters. TVSu1964 and two accessions from Malawi (TVSu1748 and TVSu1750) in cluster III had high grain yield. Accessions in cluster II were significant for both vigour and grain yield. Striking uniformity and diversity existed among accessions from the same country. Genetic improvement in vigour and grain yield of Bambara groundnut is possible within each country.