Hybridization studies and reciprocal crosses were carried out on Basella alba var alba and Basella alba var rubra morphotypes in the family Basellaceae collected from various locations in the southwestern part of Nigeria. This was done to ascertain the possibility of gene exchange between the morphotypes and to examine the performance of the F₁ hybrids produced in other to help in their genetic improvement. A total of 300 crosses were carried out between the Basella alba and Basella rubra morphotypes studied. From the Basella alba × Basella rubra 150 crosses, 19 individuals were raised out of which two did not grow beyond two leave stage. The hybrids had purple pigmentation. From the reciprocal 150 Basella rubra × Basella alba crosses, 21 hybrids were raised of which 3 failed to germinate beyond two leave stage and all the remaining had red pigmentation. The F₁ hybrids obtained from the crosses showed no significant difference with the parents in the vegetative and reproductive characters studied. The hybrids obtained were not significantly different irrespective of the choice of maternal parent as the red pigmentation was dominant. It was concluded that the hybrids showed no clear superiority compared with the parents except that it matured earlier under our environmental conditions.

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• Genetic diversity assessment of accessions of Basella alba var alba and Basella alba var rubra morphotypes using vegetative and reproductive trait
  Isaac Oluwatobi Adeniran, Abolade Oluremi Bolaji
  International Journal of Vegetable Science.2024; 30(2): 163.     CrossRef

Brassica oleracea contains various morphotypes within the species, but genomic signatures differentiating each morphotype have been poorly understood of. Here, we utilized whole genome sequence data of 44 B. oleracea collections including those of seven different morphotypes such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kailan, kale, brussels sprout, and kohlrabi to elucidate the genomic signature of B. oleracea morphotypes. Molecular structure analysis divided the 44 B. oleracea lines into two groups: group I represents broccoli, cauliflower, kailan; group II represents other B. oleracea subspecies. Kohlrabi has admixed genomic structure through genetic admixture analysis. Based on the population stratification result, we have investigated genetic signatures that offer the possible evolutionary processes for the kohlrabi morphotype. Several statistical analyses were implemented to identify selective regions and explore 45 candidate loci that may contribute to stem swollen in kohlrabi. Above all, we identified two kohlrabi-unique genes, LOC106333915 and LOC106308097, showing kohlrabi-unique non-synonymous mutations, which might be candidate genes for stem swollen in kohlrabi.