DIVERSITY AND POPULATION STRUCTURE OF LOCAL AND EXOTIC LABLAB PURPUREUS ACCESSIONS IN KENYA AS REVEALED BY MICROSATELLITE MARKERS

Lablab purpureus is an important pulse crop in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia but has largely remained underutilized. Understanding the genetic diversity prerequisite for improvement utilization this leguminous crop. The relationships local lablab genotypes those collected from other diverse geographic origins including wild accessions remain unknown Kenya. study was undertaken to determine population structure germplasm Kenya global regions. Eight simple sequence repeat primer pairs were used genotype 189 accessions. A total 39 alleles revealed by eight SSR with average 4.88 per polymorphic loci. PIC 0.42. gene among ranged 0.26 0.52 0.38, indicating moderate diversity. Germplasm showed a 0.36. Higher (He<0.5) detected within Ethiopian South populations. Analysis molecular variance (AMOVA) that 94% allele attributed individuals populations while only 6% distributed Bayesian model-based Structure method Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) scatter plot clustered into three groups germplasms showing distribution all groups. mainly Southern Eastern confirming earlier suggestions African origin. results are discussed light