Molecular Plant Breeding 2016, Vol.7, No.11, 1
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could be enough for supporting future breeding
programmes. Absence of systematic introduction of
improved varieties for long period, and continuous
selection by farmers for more than a century may have
created a chance for mutations to be selected and
result in divergence gene pools different from those
observed in the reference materials, and also existence
of considerable amount of private alleles unique to
Eritrean populations. These alleles may be a useful
source for some characteristics. Thus, future strategy
for pepper breeding in Eritrea could rely on local
Eritrean germplasms\ unless specific traits, not locally
available, are targeted. However, the seed system
should also be revised so that improved varieties can
be introduced to farmers fields and farmers trained
how to maintain pure lines of their germplasm
considering maintenance of the existing diversity.
4 Materials and Methods
4.1 Plant material
A total of 129 seed samples were collected from
farmers and institutions in Eritrea in 2012. Thereafter,
an additional 17 accessions from AVRDC, one pepper
and three tomato accessions from Kenyan Agriculture
and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) were
added (Table 7). Samples from Eritrea were chosen to
cover areas where farmers have saved their own seed
for long periods as well as from major pepper growing
areas focusing on geographical coverage and agro-
ecological diversity (Table 7).
Table 7 Population, location of seed collection, number of seed samples and number of individuals genotyped
Population/ Seed
source
Type
Region/ Country Agro-ecological Zone
Number
of
Villages
A
Number of
seed samples
No of individuals
genotyped
Elabered
Sub-region
Anseba
WEZ
4
11
32
Dekemhare
Sub-region
Debub
CHZ
1
6
18
Mendefera
Sub-region
Debub
CHZ
4
13
36
Dubarwa
Sub-region
Debub
CHZ
4
6
18
Gindae
Sub-region
NRS
GBZ & CPZ
8
29
82
Akurdat
Sub-region
Gash-Barka
NWLZ
1
3
7
Afabet
Sub-region
NRS
CPZ
2
20
58
NARI
Institute
Debub
CHZ
-
6
14
HAC
Institute
Anseba
WEZ
-
32
83
Sub-total
24
129
348
AVRDC
Institute
Taiwan
-
-
17
48
KALRO1
Institute
Kenya
-
-
1
3
KALRO2
Institute
Kenya
-
-
3
8
Sub-total
21
59
Total
24
150
407
Note:
A
Number of villages where seeds were collected NRS= Northern Red Sea GBZ= Green Belt Zone
WEZ= Western Escarpment Zone CHZ =Central Highlands Zone CPZ= Coastal Plains Zone
AVRDC materials were selected to represent, 1)
Ethiopia where germplasm exchange took place
across the border for a long period, 2) Italy from
where many varieties were introduced to Eritrea, 3)
