Variabilité morphologique et agronomique des écotypes d'oignon (Allium cepa L.) identifiés par les producteurs du Niger

Abstract

Morphological and Agronomic Variability of Onion (Allium cepa L.) Landraces Identified by Niger Producers. The morphological and agronomical diversity of sixteen onion ecotypes collected in Niger were analyzed using the descriptors established by Bioversity International. The experimentation was conducted in Madaoua and Saga-Gorou localities, according to a randomized complete block design with four repetitions. The Hierarchical Ascendant Classification (HAC) and Factorial Discriminant Analysis (FDA) on nine quantitative traits point out a structuration of this diversity in three groups based on leaves length and diameter, and on bulbs weight. The Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) based on qualitative morphological characters showed that Niger onion ecotypes are structured into five groups. The most distinctive qualitative variables between ecotypes are leaf color, bulb shape and color, uniformity of bulb shape and color. No correlation is found between the groups obtained from qualitative characters and the groups obtained from quantitative traits. The largest genetic distance is observed between the most geographically distant ecotypes.

Keywords

• Onion
• Allium cepa L.
• Morphological variability
• Landraces
• Niger