PHENOTYPIC DIVERSITY AMONG SOME COWPEA (VIGNAUNGUICULATA(L.) WALP) AND SESAME (SESAMUMSPP) ACCESSIONS CONSERVED AT GENETIC RESOURCES RESEARCH INSTITUTE(GERRI) IN KENYA

Cowpea (Vignaunguiculata(L.) Walp) and sesame (SesamumindicumL.) are both adapted to the dry and infertilearid and semi-arid environments (ASALs). These crops are rich sources of high quality protein and essential oils, respectively. Consequently, the two crops are ideal food and nutritionalsecurity commodities for the vulnerable communities who live in these fragile environments.The Genetics Resources Research Institute (GeRRI)s genebankhas amassed 972 and 2491 accessions of cowpea and sesame,respectively. However,utilization of these genetic resources has remained generally low largely due to limited characterization and evaluation data. As one of the measures to mitigate this problem, 123 accessions of cowpeaand 203 of sesame werephenotypically characterized at KALRO- Kiboko field.Five quantitative and nineteen qualitative traits were used to characterize the cowpea accessions whilethree quantitative and twenty one qualitative traits were used to characterize the sesame accessions.According to principal component analysis (PCA), 10 factors accounted for 65% of the total variability among the cowpea accessions while 10 factors accounted for 68% of the total variability among the sesame accessions.Hierarchical clustering generated five similarity clusters (groups) for cowpeas and twomain clusters (groups) for sesame. The hierarchical clusters observed for the crops could be attributed to the regions from which the accessions were collected or donated. Passport data held at the genebank indicate that majority of the cowpea accessions were collected from the Eastern, Western and Coast regions of Kenya or donated from ICRISAT and IITA. Similarly, majority of sesame accessions were collected from Kenya or donated from othercountries such as Israel, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Somalia, Mexico, Mozambique, Vietnam, South Korea and USA.The diversity in these accessions can be exploited in breeding better varieties of these crops.