Taro and new cocoyam are root and leaf crops commonly grown in tropical to warm temperate regions. In Togo, they are neglected and underutilised. Here we report the genetic diversity of 26 accessions of taro and 101 accessions of new cocoyam. Analysis of simple sequence repeats revealed low polymorphic information content of 0.43 and 0.25 in taro and new cocoyam, respectively. PCA scatterplots and Neighbour Joining dendrograms based on the SSR data clustered accessions into groups that more-or-less correspond to morphological diversity in both species. AMOVA within and between morphological groups revealed greater variances within groups than between. This indicates weak genetic differentiation between morphological groups, particularly for taro. Genetic diversity was greater among taro cultivars. Taro has a longer history of introduction and dispersal in Africa, and has had more opportunity for multiple introduction and local cultivar development. Different strategies are suggested for future development of these crops in Togo and Africa. For taro, further studies of existing diversity and recent experimental introduction, has spread widely in Africa with little genetic diversity. For this crop, international collaboration is needed to clarify taxonomy,  and to introduced further cultivars for evaluation under local conditions in Africa.

Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] is a crop with significant agronomic and nutritional value. In Togo, the crop is very appreciated by local people. It is the third food habit in Togo after maize and rice. However, several accessions of cowpea cultivated in Togo are now prone to extinction, creating a risk of genetic erosion. It is therefore urgent to assess the genetic diversity of accessions in order to set up a good conservation program. To achieve this, genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships among 70 accessions of cowpea collected in the five (5) administrative regions of Togo were assessed using Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) molecular markers. The twenty-eight SSR primers used in this study generated a total of 164 alleles with an average of 5.82 alleles per locus. Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) values ranged from 0.20 to 0.89 with an average value of 0.58. Population structure analysis using model-based revealed that the cowpea germplasm was grouped into two subpopulations. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed that 98% of genetic variation existed among accessions within regions. The fixation index (Fst) value, which was 0.069 was low, indicating relatively low population differentiation. The phylogenetic analysis grouped the 70 accessions into two main groups that can be further divided into four groups independent of their origins. This study provides a foundation for a Togolese cowpea germplasm conservation program and can serve for the selection of parental material for further studies aimed at the genetic improvement of local germplasm.

Cowpea [ Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] is a crop with significant agronomic and nutritional potential. I is very appreciate by local people. It is the third food habit in Togo after maize and rice. However, several accessions of cowpea cultivated in Togo are now prone to extinction, creating a risk of genetic erosion. It is therefore urgent to assess the genetic diversity of accessions in order to set up a good conservation program. To achieve this, genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships among 70 accessions of cowpea collected in the five (5) administrative regions of Togo were assessed using Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) molecular markers. Twenty-eight out of the thirty-two (32) primer pairs screened for polymorphism were polymorphic, and a total of 164 alleles were detected for the 28 loci with an average of 5.82 alleles per locus. Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) values ranged from 0.18 to 0.895, with an average value of 0.67. Population structure analysis using model-based revealed that the cowpea germplasm was grouped into two subpopulations. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed that 85% of genetic variation existed among individuals within regions. The fixation index (Fst) value, which was 0.018, was low, indicating relatively low population differentiation. The Togolese cowpea germplasm collection was grouped into four groups independently of theirs origins. This study provides a foundation for a Togolese cowpea germplasm conservation program and can serve for the selection of parental material for further studies aimed at the genetic improvement of local germplasm.