TITLE:
Agro-Morphological Characterization of a Collection of Fonio [Digitaria exilis (Kippist.) Stapf.] Accessions from Burkina Faso
AUTHORS:
Balma Patrice, Kabore Boukare, Kiebre Mariam, Kiebre Zakaria, Sanou Jacob, Bationo/Kando Pauline
KEYWORDS:
Digitaria exilis, Agro-Morphological Variability, Accession, Burkina Faso
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.14 No.6,
June
30,
2023
ABSTRACT: Considered as the oldest cereal, fonio (Digitaria exilis Stapf.) is grown in West
Africa for its therapeutic virtues, its nutritional and organoleptic qualities. It plays an important socio-cultural and
economic role for the populations of western Burkina Faso. However, very few
studies on the genetic diversity of fonio have been carried out. This study
aims to contribute to a better knowledge of the diversity of Digitaria
exilis in Burkina Faso using agro-morphological descriptors. Thus, 60 accessions of fonio collected from western Burkina Faso were characterized using 21 agro-morphological
characters according to an Alpha
Latice design with three replications. The study showed morphological variability for most of the qualitative and
quantitative characters studied. Principal component analysis (PCA)
explained 56.07% of the variability. Hierarchical cluster analysis splits the accessions of the collection into four clusters
using seven characters. These characters can constitute basic criteria for differentiating fonio accessions in Burkina Faso. The
accessions of Group II have a long cycle and high production of grain, while the accessions of Group IV have a short cycle and low
production of grain. The groups identified can serve as a starting point for
fonio breeding in Burkina Faso.