Background: The African eggplant [Solanum aethiopicum (L.)] is an important orphan traditional vegetable cultivated in tropical regions for its edible fruits. In Benin republic, S. aethiopicum (L.) is mainly produced by rural farmers for food and for its uses in traditional medicine. Assessing the varietal diversity, the endogenous knowledge, the production constraints and the farmers’ preference criteria are of great importance for promotion and conservation purposes. Methods: Using rural appraisal tools and methods, an ethnobotanical study was conducted within 680 households across 92 villages. A total of 60 local accessions were identified, documented and collected in the surveyed sites. Results: We documented fifteen (15) farmers’ criteria for agronomic (57.88% of responses), and culinary (28.51%) preference; and for economic (13.61%) aspects. Several constraints related to eggplant production in Benin were recorded among which, low market demand (27% of responses), lack of high-yielding cultivars (11.08% of responses), low fruit storability (10.67%), low productivity (9.84%), soil poverty (8.43%), susceptibility to high soil moisture (8.02 %), pests (9.56%) and diseases (8.45%), and drought (6.38%) appeared to be the most important stress factors. In addition to synthetic pesticides, the eggplant farmers use botanical plant extracts such as extracts from Azadirachta indica (Meliaceae) and Hyptis suaveolens (Lamiaceae). Conclusion and implications: Benin eggplant production still remains traditional and limited to a few rural farmers. Finally, the current collected germplasm was proposed for further evaluation using morphological and molecular markers in order to provide breeders with traits of interest for developing better eggplant varieties that are suitable for local environmental conditions and production systems.
The scarlet eggplant (Solanum aethiopicum L.) is an African traditional vegetable grown for its edibles leaves and fruits, which can contribute to food security in Republic of Benin. However, very little information is available on the genetic variability of this vegetable for varietal improvement purposes. Sixty accessions of scarlet eggplants collected throughout 52 villages in Benin republic were characterized using 34 (10 qualitative and 24 quantitative) variables. The experiment was laid out using complete randomized block design with three replications on the experimental site of Massi. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) analysis revealed 18 discriminating quantitative variables. A strong correlation was observed between plant height, number of fruits per plant, fruit diameter, fruit weight and number of seeds per fruit. A cluster phenogram divided the 60 accessions into three groups corresponding to Kumba (Cluster 1), Gilo (Cluster 2), and Shum groups (Cluster 3). These groups differed by the number of seeds per fruit, weight of fruits, diameter of fruits, number of fruits per plant, plants height at flowering stage, plants length, and plant width. Accessions Samibi, Ikangougou, Kannan and Yètchanmiyé with the highest fruit weight per plant can be used as parents in the framework of a scarlet eggplant breeding program in Republic of Benin.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.