Estimates of genetic parameters of spider plant (Cleome gynandra L.) of Burkina Faso

Abstract

Spider plant (Cleome gynandra L.) is a traditional leafy-vegetable consumed more and more in Burkina Faso because it is a good food complement against the nutritional deficiencies. In order to improve the species, several studies of characterization carried out showed the existence of a great genetic diversity. But, the varietal improvement requires the estimate of the heritability and the genetic advance of the characters of interests of the plant. The objective of this study is to (i) identify the agro-morphological characters that discriminate the spider plant genotypes, (ii) establish the relations which exist between them, and (iii) estimate genetic parameters in a collection of spider plant accessions of Burkina Faso. The experiment was conducted during the rainy season 2015 according Alpha design, with 100 accessions of spider plant randomly collected in Burkina Faso. In order to understand whether the observed variation was due to genetic factors, genetic parameters were estimated. The results shows that all the 12 characters discriminate significantly the spider plant genotypes. Several correlations were observed between characters related to the biomass production. These correlations are particularly interesting because the improvement of only one character induces improvement of the others and increases leaves biomass.The study shows moreover high broad sense heritability (H²) and weak differences between the phenotypic (PCV) and genotypic (GCV) coefficients of variation, indicating that the characters expression is under genetic control. The genetic parameters indicates that variability observed for the Burkina Faso spider plant accessions could be exploited in breeding programs.

Keywords: Spider plant, Cleome gynandra, genetic parameters, Burkina Faso