Diversity analysis of Artemisia afra L. (wormwood) accessions using diversity arrays technology and foliar mineral content attributes

The objectives of this study were to evaluate and characterized A. afra accessions using Diversity Arrays Technology and foliar plant minerals concentration. A total of 80 samples were collected from the localities of Roma and Mohale’s Hoek in Lesotho and Wepener and Hobhouse in the Free State province of South Africa. A dendrogram was used to classify accessions into 3 clusters, which were further divided into 7 subclusters. The heights and clades were dissimilar and ranged from 53.1 to 100 bp. A principal component analysis supported the results from an unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean analysis by classifying eigenvalues into 3 groups. Most acces-sions were grouped together regardless of their origin. Moreover, a minimum spanning network analysis showed close relationships for most accessions, even though they were classified in differ-ent groups. Among the populations of A. afra, heterozygosity was due to the complete segregation of genes. Substantial variation among genotypes was uncovered by an analysis of variance con-ducted on foliar minerals. Foliar nitrogen, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and manganese were significantly affected by collection location. However, A. afra obtained in locales Roma and Mohale’s Hoek, were genetically diverse and differed in foliar mineral contents.