Abstract

Cleome gynandra L. is one of the leafy vegetables traditionally appreciated in the human diet, with interesting nutritional and therapeutic values. Its cultivation generates substantial income for market gardeners. To make the most of this important resource in the country's different climatic zones, we need to know more about its agronomorphological performance and estimate its genetic parameters. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the agro-morphological performance of a collection of C. gynandra in relation to the three climatic zones and to estimate the genetic parameters in three sites representing the three climatic zones in Burkina Faso. Thus, 36 accessions collected in the three climatic zones of Burkina Faso were evaluated using a Fisher block design. The trials were conducted in August 2019 during the rainy season in the country's three climatic zones. Measurements and observations were made on 12 quantitative variables. The study revealed great agromorphological variability within accessions, with significantly different performance depending on the climatic factor. It also showed a significant interaction between accessions and experimental sites for most variables. The best agronomic performances were recorded at the Bobo Dioulasso experimental station, followed by Ouagadougou, while poor performances were noted at Dori. The study also showed that heritability in the broad sense was high for all traits and at all three sites. Low phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation were observed for all traits, indicating that trait expression is under genetic control. The genetic parameters associated with accession performance show that the variability observed could be exploited in breeding programs.

Key words: Genetic parameters, heritability, Cleome gynandra, Burkina Faso.