Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) is an important legume crop in Southern Europe and a valuable source of proteins, minerals, and vitamins. Moreover, cowpea has additional interest stemming from drought tolerance and high biological nitrogen fixation. In this research, the genetic diversity of cowpea landraces from Southern European countries was evaluated using molecular and morpho-agronomical approaches, with the objective of enhancing legumes diversity grown through sustainable cropping. A set of 10 chloroplast microsatellite primer pairs (cpSSRs) was used to evaluate genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships among 113 Vigna accessions including Vigna unguiculata subsp. unguiculata, subsp. alba, subsp. pubescens, subsp. tenuis and var. spontanea and accessions from other Vigna species, as V. mungo, V. radiata and V. racemosa. This set of primers successfully established ten haplotypes, with the most frequent being shared by the V. unguiculata subsp. unguiculata cultigroups unguiculata and sesquipedalis and var. spontanea. Eight loci were polymorphic; nevertheless, a low level of polymorphism was verified within the cultivated cowpeas. Additionally, 10 agronomic traits were evaluated on cowpea landraces of the cultigroup unguiculata, mainly from Portugal. PCA clustered the landraces into three main groups, each one containing Portuguese landraces. Total seed weight per plant revealed the highest coefficient of variation, and 100 seed weight the highest heritability. The performed study shows the wide agro-morphological diversity still existing in cowpea in Iberian Peninsula and other Southern European countries, despite the low polymorphism detected in its chloroplast genome. The high variability detected in the collection of cowpea analysed and the sharing of haplotypes by cultivated and wild material is of great importance for breeding programs of this species.

中文翻译：

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伊比利亚半岛豇豆多样性：叶绿体、微卫星和形态农艺变异

豇豆（Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.）是南欧重要的豆类作物，也是蛋白质、矿物质和维生素的宝贵来源。此外，豇豆因耐旱和高生物固氮而具有额外的兴趣。在这项研究中，使用分子和形态农艺方法评估了南欧国家豇豆地方品种的遗传多样性，目的是通过可持续种植提高豆科植物的多样性。一组 10 个叶绿体微卫星引物对 (cpSSR) 用于评估包括 Vigna unguiculata subsp. 在内的 113 个豇豆种质之间的遗传多样性和系统发育关系。unguiculata, subsp. 阿尔巴亚种 pubescens, subsp. 特努伊斯和变种。spontanea 和来自其他豇豆物种的种质，如 V. mungo、V. radiata 和 V. racemosa。这组引物成功建立了十个单倍型，最常见的是 V. unguiculata subsp。unguiculata cultigroups unguiculata 和 sesquipedalis 和 var。自发性。八个基因座是多态的；尽管如此，在栽培的豇豆中证实了低水平的多态性。此外，还对主要来自葡萄牙的豇豆品种的 10 种农艺性状进行了评估。PCA 将地方品种分为三大类，每一类都包含葡萄牙地方品种。单株总种子重的变异系数最高，100 粒重的遗传力最高。进行的研究表明，伊比利亚半岛和其他南欧国家的豇豆仍然存在广泛的农业形态多样性，尽管在其叶绿体基因组中检测到低多态性。在分析的豇豆收集物中检测到的高变异性以及栽培和野生材料的单倍型共享对于该物种的育种计划非常重要。