Agro-Morphological Variability of Wild <i>Vigna</i> Species Collected in Senegal

The domesticated <i>Vigna</i> species still need some of the beneficial characters that exist in the wild <i>Vigna</i> species, despite the improvements obtained so far. This study was carried out to enhance our understanding of the Senegalese wild <i>Vigna</i> diversity by exploring the agro-morphological characteristics of some accessions using 22 traits. The phenotyping was carried out in a shaded house for two consecutive rainy seasons (2021 and 2022) using the alpha-lattice experimental design with 55 accessions. Multiple correspondence analysis was carried out based on the qualitative traits, which showed considerable variability for the wild species (<i>Vigna unguiculata</i> var. <i>spontanea, Vigna racemosa, Vigna radiata</i> and the unidentified accession). The quantitative traits were subjected to statistical analysis using descriptive statistics and ANOVA. Our results revealed that ninety-five percent (95%) pod maturity ranged from 74.2 to 125.8 days in accession 3 of <i>V. unguiculata</i> and in accession 92 (<i>V. racemosa</i>), respectively. In addition, accession 14 of <i>V. radiata</i> recorded the highest weight for 100 seeds with a value of 4.8 g, while accession 18 of <i>V. unguiculata</i> had the lowest (1.48 g). The ANOVA showed significant differences for the accessions during each season (<i>p</i> ≤ 0.05). Seasonal effects (accession × season) were observed for some quantitative traits, such as the terminal leaflet length and width, time to 50% flowering and 95% pod maturity, pod length and 100-seed weight. Principal component analysis showed that reproductive traits, such as the time to 50% flowering, number of locules per pod, pod length, pod width and 100-seed weight, were the major traits that accounted for the variations among the wild <i>Vigna</i> accessions. The genetic relationship based on qualitative and quantitative traits showed three clusters among the wild <i>Vigna</i> accessions. Indeed, the diversity observed in this study could be used to select parents for breeding to improve the cultivated species of <i>Vigna</i>.