Abstract:
Hyphaene compressa is an economically important palm in Africa. Despite its significant role in the livelihoods of rural
communities, the diversity of doum palm is poorly documented and studied. In addition, it has no model descriptor that can aid
such studies. Ninety H. compressa accessions collected from Northern, Eastern, and Coastal regions of Kenya were examined to
determine the morphological variability of the vegetative and fruit traits of H. compressa and to identify its morphotypes for
improvement. A total of 19 morphological characters including seven quantitative and 12 qualitative traits of fruit and vegetative
traits were selected. Linear mixed-effects models, principal component analysis, and linear discriminant analyses were used to
assess the variation in the morphological traits of doum palm based on the regions. Hierarchical clustering was performed to
identify the morphotypes of H. compressa. )ere was variability in H. compressa morphological traits, particularly at the Kenyan
Coast. All seven quantitative traits were able to effectively discriminate doum palm phenotypically (p ≤ 0.001). )e 90 accessions
clustered into five morphotypes designated as 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Morphotype 4 was specific only to the Coastal region. Morphotype 5
had the tallest trees with the biggest fruits and included palms from Eastern and Coastal regions making it the best morphotype for
fruit traits. )is study will inform the domestication, improvement, and conservation of H. compressa by selecting elite accessions.
