Development of a West African Yam Core Collection

Dioscorea yams are important food crops in many parts of West Africa. Yam tubers are boiled, roasted, fried or processed into flour that is used to prepare other dishes. There are germplasm collections of yams in various genebanks, but one of the largest collections is in the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). IITA conserves about 3,000 accessions of eight species of West African yams.

To better utilize the IITA yam collection, V. Mahalakshmi and colleagues analyzed the variation in the entire West African collection using pre-defined descriptor sets. The researchers reported that data using 99 botanical descriptors were gathered and analyzed to define a core sub-set. Core collections can serve as valuable entry points to the entire germplasm collection for research or use by plant breeders.

Mahalakshmi and colleagues have identified 391 yam accessions (13% of entire collection) to best represent the IITA collection. The group discussed that the number of accessions in the core sub-set will help simplify the management and enhance the utilization of West African yam germplasm in their collection.

The paper was published in Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution and available to subscribers at http://www.springerlink.com/content/l8406q5729776442/.