Teak genetic diversity in Ghana shows a narrow base for further breeding and a need for improved international collaboration for provenance exchange.

Abstract

We evaluated the genetic diversity of teak provenances at a newly established provenance trial with 52 provenances collected from Africa, South America and Asia in Tain II Forest Reserve in Central Ghana. This provenance collection / trial was established to widen the genetic basis for Teak establishment in West Africa. Using Genotyping by Sequencing (GBS) we analysed the genetic diversity of these provenances. Results of the study revealed that, although acquired from a wide geographical range, most Teak provenances in the trial belong to only two distinct groups that are closely related. The implication of this finding is that, for breeding, a wider range of provenances are needed from the original Teak distribution areas and more specifically from Southern India. We conclude that urgent protection of older existing sources of genetic variation in Teak as well as an improvement of international collaboration under the Nagoya protocol with countries with native teak populations is necessary.

Keywords

• Teak Provenances
• Tectona grandis
• Ghana
• Teak
• SNPs