The present study was carried out on eighty (80) accessions from Burkina Faso. It has a double objective: to identify the different species of amaranths cultivated and to estimate their agronomic performances. To this end, twenty-four (24) descriptors were used to characterize the collection, according to a Fisher block design with three replications. The survey was conducted at the IDR experimental site in Gampèla. The study revealed a great phenotypic diversity characterized by the existence of qualitative discriminating characters of which the color of the stem and the leaves, the shape and the size of the leaves as well as the color of the inflorescence. These observations allowed us to identify seven morphotypes belonging to three species: Amaranthus cruentus, Amaranthus hypochondriacus and Amaranthus dubius. The analysis of variance showed several discriminating quantitative characters including height, stem diameter, number of branches and number of days to flowering. The green-leaved Amaranthus cruentus species showed the highest yields of leaf biomass (283.57 g) with a long flowering cycle (72.5 days) and a high number of branching (45.6). Oval-leaved accessions with broad, long blades and early flowering were identified belonging to the species Amaranthus dubius. The light green morphotype of Amaranthus hypochondriacus species and accessions of Amaranthus dubius species yielded low foliar biomass.
In Burkina Faso, little information is available on morphological variability of amaranth and the association of different genetic traits. This has been a constraint to its genetic improvement for yield potential, whereby the necessity of this study which aimed at assessing 80 accessions of amaranth collected in the three agro-climatic zones of Burkina Faso. The study was conducted in 2019 during the rainy season. The experimental design was a Randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates. A total of 12 quantitative descriptors related to the vegetative system, flowering cycle, and leaf and seed yield were assessed. The level of variation of each descriptor, their correlations, and their importance in the structure of agro-morphological variability of amaranths was studied. Significant morphological variability was observed among the accessions. The most discriminating and heritable traits were leaf blade length, number of primary branches bearing an inflorescence, number of leaves per plant, and fresh leaf weight. Late maturing accessions with many branches and long leaves were the best accessions for leaf biomass production. Early maturing accessions with fewer primary branches had better seed production. Two accessions, namely BOB4 and BOB5 of Amaranthus hypochondriacus were identified as the best seed yielding. Breeding programs to facilitate parental selection and increase genetic diversity in breeding populations can use these data.
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