AUTHOR=Plazas Mariola , Andújar Isabel , Vilanova Santiago , Gramazio Pietro , Herraiz F. Javier , Prohens Jaime 

TITLE=Conventional and phenomics characterization provides insight into the diversity and relationships of hypervariable scarlet (Solanum aethiopicum L.) and gboma (S. macrocarpon L.) eggplant complexes

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=5

YEAR=2014

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2014.00318

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2014.00318

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Scarlet (<italic>Solanum aethiopicum</italic>) and gboma (<italic>S. macrocarpon</italic>) eggplants are major vegetable crops in sub-Saharan Africa. Together with their respective wild ancestors (<italic>S. anguivi</italic> and <italic>S. dasyphyllum</italic>) and intermediate cultivated-wild forms they constitute the so-called scarlet and gboma eggplant complexes. We used conventional descriptors and the high-throughput phenomics tool Tomato Analyzer for characterizing 63 accessions of the scarlet eggplant complex, including the four <italic>S. aethiopicum</italic> cultivar groups (Aculeatum, Gilo, Kumba, and Shum), Intermediate <italic>S. aethiopicum</italic>-<italic>S. anguivi</italic> forms, and <italic>S. anguivi</italic>, and 12 cultivated and wild accessions of the gboma eggplant complex. A large diversity was found between both complexes, showing that they are very well differentiated from each other. Within the scarlet eggplant complex, many significant differences were also found among cultivar groups, but more differences were found for fruit traits evaluated with Tomato Analyzer than with conventional descriptors. In particular, Tomato Analyzer phenomics characterization was useful for distinguishing small fruited groups (Shum, Intermediate, and <italic>S. anguivi</italic>), as well as groups for which few or no significant differences were observed for plant traits. Multivariate principal components analysis (PCA) separated well all groups, except the Intermediate group which plotted between <italic>S. anguivi</italic> and small fruited <italic>S. aethiopicum</italic> accessions. For the gboma eggplant complex, <italic>S. dasyphyllum</italic> was clearly distinguished from <italic>S. macrocarpon</italic> and an important diversity was found in the latter. The results have shown that both complexes are hypervariable and have provided insight into their diversity and relationships. The information obtained has important implications for the conservation and management of genetic resources as well as for the selection and breeding of both scarlet and gboma eggplants.</p>