Population Genetics of an African Acacia, Acacia albida. I. Genetic Diversity of Populations From West Africa

Abstract

Acacia albida (Faidherbia albida) is an important species for agroforestry and widely distributed in Africa. This paper proposes a genetic control for 14 enzymatic systems. The eight more reliable ones, involving 10 loci, have been used to study the genetic diversity of 22 populations, mostly from west Africa.

A. albida exhibits a high level of genetic diversity (H = 0.45) compared with that found in Australian acacias studied so far. Most populations exhibited a deficit in heterozygotes (F_IS = 0.21). All analyses showed large differences between western and eastern populations.