Humans have domesticated diverse species from across the plant kingdom, yet much of our foundational knowledge of domestication has come from studies investigating relatively few of the most important annual food crops. Here, we examine the impacts of domestication on genetic diversity in a tropical perennial fruit species, mango (Mangifera indica). We used restriction site associated DNA sequencing to generate genomic single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data from 106 mango cultivars from seven geographical regions along with 52 samples of closely related species and unidentified cultivars to identify centers of mango genetic diversity and examine how post-domestication dispersal shaped the geographical distribution of diversity. We identify two gene pools of cultivated mango, representing Indian and Southeast Asian germplasm. We found no significant genetic bottleneck associated with the introduction of mango into new regions of the world. By contrast, we show that mango populations in introduced regions have elevated levels of diversity. Our results suggest that mango has a more complex history of domestication than previously supposed, perhaps including multiple domestication events, hybridization and regional selection. Our work has direct implications for mango breeding and genebank management, and also builds on recent efforts to understand how woody perennial crops respond to domestication.

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Population genomic analysis of mango (Mangifera indica) suggests a complex history of domestication

Morphological and molecular characterization and evaluation of mango germplasm: An overview

s/full/93.pdf Gebauer, J. and Luedeling, E. (2013) ‘A note on baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) in Kordofan, Sudan’, Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, vol 60, pp. 1587–1596 Keatinge, J.D.H., Waliyar, F., Jamnadass, R.H., Moustafa, A., Andrade, M., Drechsel, P., Hughes, J.A., Kadirvel, P., and Luther, K. (2010) ‘Relearning old lessons for the future of food – by bread alone no longer: Diversifying diets with fruit and vegetables’, Crop Science, vol 50, pp. S51–S62 Kehlenbeck, K. and Jamnadass, R. (2014) ‘Chapter 6.2.1: Food and nutrition – Fruits, nuts, vegetables and staples from trees’, in J. De Leeuw, M. Njenga, B. Wagner, and M. Iiyama (eds), Treesilience: An Assessment of the Resilience Provided by Trees in the Drylands of Eastern Africa, ICRAF, Nairobi; http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ knowfordocs/Treesilience_Book_2014.pdf Kehlenbeck, K., Asaah, E., and Jamnadass, R. (2013) ‘Diversity of indigenous fruit trees and their contribution to nutrition and livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa: Examples from Kenya and Cameroon’, in J. Fanzo, D. Hunter, T. Borelli and F. Mattei (eds), Diversifying Food and Diets: Using Agricultural Biodiversity to Improve Nutrition and Health, Earthscan, New York, pp. 257–269 104 Kehlenbeck, Wiehle, Sennhenn and Gebauer

Tropical Fruit Tree Diversity : Good practices for in situ and on-farm conservation

Traditional mixed agroforestry farms are regarded as sustainable agroecological systems contributing to agrobiodiversity conservation and household food and nutrition security in sub-Saharan Africa. However, in Kenya little is known on the level of agrobiodiversity of these mixed farms and its contribution to food and nutrition security. A case study was conducted to assess food plant and livestock diversity and to identify the biophysical and socioeconomic factors influencing food plant diversity in 30 smallholder farms in Western Kenya. The survey identified six livestock species and 59 food plant species. Higher food plant species richness was found on farms managed by wealthier households and older household heads. However, households with high on-farm food plant richness and diversity were not more food secure than households managing species-poor farms. The nonsignificant relationship between food security and agrobiodiversity during the time of this case study may have resulted from the fact that t...

Variability of on-farm food plant diversity and its contribution to food security: a case study of smallholder farming households in Western Kenya

Mango ( Mangifera indica L.) is an economically important tropical fruit consumed all over the world. So far, little attention has been paid towards the documentation and characterization of its cultivars. Occupying a unique position among edible fruit crops in Nigeria, information on the exact number of cultivars has not been recorded, leading to a lack of accurately named germplasms and cultivars. To gain phenomenal insight on cultivars' diversity, a morphological technique employing both cluster and principal component analysis were adopted. Morphological characters of seven cultivars collected from National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT), Ibadan Nigeria, which includes: leaf length and width, leaf apex, petiole length, fruit length and width, fruit colour and shape were assessed. The results of principal component analysis based on similarity matrix revealed a correlation between leaf length and petiole length, fruit length, width and shape whereas fruit colour exhibited no correlation with any of the other parameters. Cluster and dendrogram analysis based on farthest neighbour, mean character difference and constrained clustering strategy, revealed that mango cultivars are distinctively divided into two groups based on their fruit features: Cluster A comprises Julie, Edward, Palmer, and Kent whereas cluster B comprises Saigon, Madoe and Lipen. This study provides a solid baseline for the further characterization of the different mango cultivars in Nigeria, and will be useful for germplasm management and crop breeding. Keywords: Mango varieties, Morphometrics, Numerical Taxonomy, Principal Component Analysis

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Morphological characterization of mango ( Mangifera indica L.) cultivars from south-west Nigeria

Local mangos (Mangifera indica L.) are highly valued for home consumption in rural Kenya and are regarded by the local population to be comparatively drought tolerant and less susceptible to pests and diseases than the improved varieties. These are characteristics which make them interesting for improvement and breeding purposes. To date, research on Kenyan mangos has mainly focused on introduced and commercial varieties, whereas information on local varieties and landraces is lacking. We present the first comprehensive morphological and molecular characterisation of local mango landraces from Eastern and Central Kenya. Thirty-eight local mango trees were sampled and characterized by 75 selected qualitative (44) and quantitative (31) morphological descriptors selected from the descriptor list developed for mango by Bioversity International (former IPGRI). Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed using first all variables and finally only 10 selected key descriptors. Additionally, dried mango leaves from the same 38 trees were used for molecular classification with 19 simple sequence repeat markers. Genetic relatedness between the mango samples was visualized using a dendrogram based on Nei’s genetic distance and Neighbor Joining methods. Morphological characterisation resulted in six distinct clusters, and molecular analysis in eight clusters, which partly supported the morphological classification. Four of the eight molecular clusters were consistent and molecular results confirmed morphological classification in these cases. Identification of local mango landraces using morphological traits can be considered as satisfying under field conditions, e.g. for rootstock identification in nurseries, but environmental conditions may influence the results. Molecular marker analysis is more expensive, but independent from environmental influences and thus suitable for identification of landraces in field genebanks and for breeding purposes. Outcomes of the present study can form the basis for urgently needed future conservation efforts, including circa situ conservation on farms and the development of ‘conservation through use’ strategies for local mango landraces in Kenya.

A. Whitbread

Papers

Identification of mango (Mangifera indica L.) landraces from Eastern and Central Kenya using a morphological and molecular approach