Morphology and genetic divergence of Stylosanthes scabra Vog. accesses

Germplasm collections for breeding purposes must initially be characterized to evaluate the diversity and allow the selection of materials for specific environments and uses. Stylosanthes scabra Vog. is a legume forage from the Brazilian Tropical Semiarid region, which might have potential, but is still underknown. The treatments consisted of eight S. scabra accesses (F1 generation) from Bom Jardim Municipality, in the tropical semiarid region in Brazil, on a complete randomized block design, with three replications. Qualitative and quantitative morphological descriptors and anthracnose incidence were evaluated at 30-day intervals, while forage mass was evaluated through cuts every 60 days, totaling three cuts. Frequency analysis by access was performed on qualitative variables and analysis of variance and Friedman on quantitative variables with subsequent Tukey test (p < 0.05) when appropriate. Genetic parameters were estimated for qualitative and quantitative descriptors. The accesses of S. scabra were different (p < 0.05) for all evaluated descriptors except for plant height, with high heritability (> 62.8%) and low repeatability (0.2 to 0.6). The high morphological diversity, even on a relatively small collection from a single tropical semiarid municipality, indicates the possibility of selecting superior materials.