ISSN 2756-3693
African Journal of Biology Vol. 1 (2), pp. 112-113, November, 2013. © International Scholars Journals
Full length research paper
Genetic diversity in cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] varieties determined by ARA and RAPD techniques
Laïty Fall1, Diaga Diouf1*, Mame Arama Fall-Ndiaye 1, François Abaye Badiane1 and Mamadou Gueye2
1Laboratoire de Biotechnologies Végétales, Département de Biologie Végétale, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Sénégal
2Laboratoire de Microbiologie des sols ISRA-IRD, BP 1386, Dakar, Sénégal
*Corresponding author; E-mail: [email protected]
Accepted 15 June, 2013
Abstract
Cowpea, Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. presents phenotypical variabilities and in order to study the genetic diversity of cultivated Senegalese varieties, two experimental approaches were used. First, a physiological characterization based on nitrogen fixation was used to assess cowpea breeding lines. Inoculation with two Bradyrhizobium strains (NGR234 and ISRA312), showed a difference in nitrogen fixation potential between the cowpea varieties. Diongoma is the highest nitrogen fixing variety, whereas Mouride is the lowest. The second approach employed genetic characterization based on DNA polymorphism to screen. Results suggest that random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technology can be used to reorganize the national germplasm in order to eliminate the putative duplicates, and to identify elite varieties.
Key words: Vigna unguiculata, nitrogen fixation, cowpea, molecular markers, RAPD.