West African Okra [Abelmoschus caillei (A. Chev) Stevels] is a multipurpose annual, biennal herb sometime perennial woody crop plant common in the humid West African subcontinent. It is produced in traditional agriculture especially when other vegetables are not in season and an important cash crop in the local economy. This study is aimed at generating information and documenting the ethnobotany of A. caillei via the indigenous knowledge among tribes of Delta, Edo and Ondo States of Nigeria). Primary information was collected from randomly selected respondents through survey using structured questionnaires and guided walks within 54 sites. A total of 540 persons were surveyed aged between 18-87 years old. Of this number, 259 (48%) were males and 281 (52%) females. Nine ethnic tribes were recorded in the 3 States. The tribes varied in their socio-cultural and economic characteristics and local knowledge about the crop. One-two local names of the crop was recorded with one related "type". Traditional uses of the crop include food (100%) and nonfood purposes. The information from non-food uses include medicine (27%), myth/religion (32%), soil fertility indicate (19%), rainy season indicator (8%), dry season/harvest time indicator (100%), fuel (15%) and sponge (11%). These sets of information indicate that the crop plant is of prime importance in the area.
Genetic variability in fifty three accessions of West African Okra [Abelmoschus caillei (A. Chev.) Stevels] were evaluated using morphological traits. These accessions were collected from home gardens, seed stores and distant farms in South Western Nigeria and trials carried out in the experimental garden, University of Benin, Nigeria. The primary data on quantitative and qualitative characters collected were subjected to multivariate analyses to determine their relationship and distinctiveness. At P < 0.05, 14 quantitative characters were significant. Two principal component analyses were conducted. Eighteen of the total characters accounted for 90.2 % of the total variability on Principal Component (PC) axes 1 -5 and the other, sixteen characters showed 70.1 % as the minimum descriptor for distinguishing A. caillei. The traits expressed by these descriptors are reflected in pigmentation of various organs; fruit characteristics and plant architecture on the crop plants. The sixteen characters suggested for core determination of this species were used for cluster analysis. All accessions clustered into seven distinct groups at Euclidean distance 8 -10. This suggests relatively high genetic variability among the germplasm. The clustering is ecologically independent and the number of accession(s) in each cluster suggests A. caillei as a continuous complex of varieties. This collection requires more evidence probably molecular evaluation for taxonomic treatment of the taxon.
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