Morpho-statistical variation and taxonomic characterization of Andrographis paniculata (Burm. F.) Nees population obtained from selected locations within Southern Nigeria

Abstract

Study of variations in plants has been identified as one successful strategy for obtaining cultivars with superior features for breeding, improvement and conservation purposes. In situ analysis of morphological variation of Andrographis paniculata (Burm. F.) Nees found in three states of Southern Nigeria was carried out using qualitative and quantitative morphological markers. Morphological traits studied included features of the stem, leaf, inflorescence, flower, fruit and seed. Qualitatively, accessions from Rivers State differed from those in Akwa Ibom and Cross River States in that the former had green stems, dark green leaves and light green unripe fruits. Of the fourteen quantitative morphological features studied, significant differences (p < 0.05) were recorded for five features (stem height, number of leaves per plant, number of fruits per plant, day to first flower and harvest age). Cluster analysis based on the quantitative morphological attributes produced a dendrogram which regrouped the twenty one accessions into three distinct cluster groupings indicating strong species intersections with higher similarities between Cross River and Akwa Ibom States compared to those obtained from Rivers State. Generally, this technique imprinted more or less overlapping semblances in species assortment to discrete cluster groups unrelated to locations thus implicating a continuum in persistent genetic components trivially swayed by location-based environmental influences. This observation lends credence to the fields of genetics, plant breeding and taxonomy.