Morphological Characterization of Bambara Groundnut [Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.] Landraces in Kenya

Background: Bambara groundnut [Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.], an indigenous drought tolerant crop of African origin is one most important leguminous in Sub-Saharan Africa. Small-scale farmers continue cultivating unimproved landraces over the production areas Kenya. exist variously as mixtures seeds, which contain variable types seed morphology need to be agronomically and phenotypically differentiated. The study aimed at characterizing groundnuts collected Kenya using morphological markers. Methods: One hundred five germplasm assembled from four major growing agro-ecologies (Busia, Kakamega, Bungom Vihiga Counties) National Gene bank, were evaluated Agricultural Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) - Alupe (0.4347° N, 34.2422° E) a randomized complete block design with three replications long short rains 2015. Nineteen quantitative traits seven qualitative observed measured different growth stages during harvesting. Result: Many displayed pointed, round yellowish pod, grooved oval seeds. About 49.4% had leaves, 21.5% elliptical while 55.7% heterogeneous for leaf shape. Quantitative significant (p≤0.05) except weight, number per plant stems. first principal components accounted total 73.1% variations. divided into two distinct clusters. Leaf variations could used reliable phenotypic marker breeding.