TITLE:
Tuber Trait Diversity among Yellow Nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus L.) Accessions from East Africa, Egypt, and Spain
AUTHORS:
Rosbella Jemurgor, Elizabeth Wanjiku Njenga, Emily Jepkosgei Too, Beatrice Ang’iyo Were, Anders S. Carlsson
KEYWORDS:
Cyperus esculentus L., Tubers, Principal Component Analysis, Hierarchical Cluster Analysis, East Africa, Underutilized Crop, Food and Nutritional Security
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.13 No.10,
October
29,
2026
ABSTRACT: Yellow nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus L.), a monocotyledonous member of the Cyperaceae, is valued for its oil-rich, starchy, protein-containing tubers. The species is cultivated commercially in several countries but occurs mainly as a weed of farmland and uncultivated areas in Kenya and much of East Africa. This study characterized tuber length and width (at the base, mid-point and tip) of 27 C. esculentus accessions, comprising 23 wild accessions collected in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and four cultivated accessions obtained from Spain and Egypt. A single tuber of each accession was planted in each of three pots in one greenhouse environment at the University of Eldoret, Kenya, and the pots were arranged in a completely randomized design. One mature tuber per pot was measured with a digital caliper, so the pot formed the experimental unit (n = 3 per accession). Data were analysed with descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlation, principal component analysis (PCA), and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). Mean tuber length ranged three-fold, from 5.00 mm (MAR) to 15.00 mm (EGY), and coefficients of variation among accession means ranged from 27.6 to 30.0%. One-way ANOVA confirmed that accession identity explained a highly significant proportion of variation in every trait (p