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.
The problems of food and income security are of global significance and are further compounded by precedential increase in world population resulting in overexploitation of natural resources and by extension plant genetic diversity. Plant genetic resources (PGR) refer to the heritable materials contained within and among plant species of present and potential value. In the recent past, genetic diversity found in landrace, weedy and wild cultivars have been reported to savage animal and plant population diseases, pest and environmental changes. Nevertheless, these resources are lost at alarming rates due to anthropogenic product and by products such as climate change, pollution, genetic erosion, gross mismanagement of these resources and population growth. Hence, the need for conservation and sustainable utilization of these resources. PGR conservation is the management of varietal diversity in plant occasioned by interaction between genes and the environment for actual or potential and present or future use. A complimentary application of in situ and ex situ conservation technique is recommended for their effective conservation. Efficient survey, collection and documentation is also pertinent. International, national and individual appreciation of the value of this vast genetic diversity would facilitate their sustainable utilization. PGR utilization refers to the use value of these genetic resources. There is need to create avenues through which these can be easily accessed and enact effective policies for their protection especially in their hotspot and regions of high endemism.
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.
The vulnerability of agriculture systems in Africa to climate change is directly and indirectly affecting the availability and diversity of plants and plant products available in local markets. In this chapter, markets in Benin City and environs were assessed to document the availability of plants and plant products. Markets were grouped into urban, suburban, and rural with each group having four markets. Majority of the plant and plant product vendors were women and 88 plant species belonging to 42 families were found. Their scientific and common names were documented as well as the parts of the plant and associated products available in the markets. Most of the plant and plant products found in local markets belong to major plant families. Urban markets had the highest diversity of plants and plant products. Three categories of plants and plant products were documented. Around 67% of the plants and plant products were categorized as whole plant/plant parts, 28% as processed plant parts, while 5% as reprocessed plant/plant parts. It was revealed that 86% of these plants are used as foods, 11% are for medicinal purposes, while 3% is used for other purposes. About 35% of plants and plant products across the markets were fruits, which is an indication that city and environs are a rich source of fruits. The local knowledge and practices associated with the plants and plant products can contribute towards formulating a strategic response for climate change impacts on agriculture, gender, poverty, food security, and plant diversity.
West African Okra (WAO), [Abelmoschus caillei (A. Chev.) Stevels, Malvaceae] is a garden cultivar intraditional agricultural system in West Africa, which is its center of diversity. In this study, WAO germplasmcollection missions were carried out in Koko, Agbor and Umunede communities in Delta state and Abudu,Ogan, Ologbo, Agenebode communities in Edo state. Through random sampling, informants were selected andadministered open and close ended questionnaire in order to assess local knowledge of WAO. Three scheduledvisits were carried out to each community. A total of 179 accessions of WAO were collected from the differentcommunities with 70 (ten from each community) accessions examined. Demographic distribution suggests78.6% and 21.4% female to male respondents respectively. Majority of these germplasm holders practiceChristianity (88.1%) with the largest age range group encountered been 51-60 (29.4%) while the least was 21-30 (9.1%). The prominent occupation of respondents was farming (45.2%) while dominant ethnic groups wereBenin (42.9%) and Ika (16.7%). The presences of some vegetables considered as competitive substitute wererecorded from the study area including Common Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus), Pumpkin (Telfairiaoccidentalis), Pigweed (Amaranthus sp.), Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), Bitter leaf (Vernoniaamygdalina), Water leaf (Talinum triangulare) and Scent leaf (Ocimum gratissimum). Food and non-food usewas recorded for WAO. Local names for the crop include Omonukpogbe, Onanukporu, Ukhia noka, Okuruokoki and Manukpogbe. Food use dominates non-food use for WAO in the study area regardless of theindustrial potentials of the wood and phytochemicals. The study has emphasized the roles of traditionalagriculture system and local knowledge in the management of crop germplasm.
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