agronomy Article Agromorphological Characterization Revealed Three Phenotypic Groups in a Region-Wide Germplasm of Fonio (Digitaria exilis (Kippist) Stapf) from West Africa Abdou R. Ibrahim Bio Yerima 1,2 , Enoch G. Achigan-Dako 1,* , Mamadou Aissata 2, Emmanuel Sekloka 3 , Claire Billot 4,5, Charlotte O. A. Adje 1, Adeline Barnaud 6 and Yacoubou Bakasso 7 1 Laboratory of Genetics, Biotechnology and Seed Sciences (GBioS), Faculty of Agronomic Sciences (FSA), University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC), Cotonou 01 BP 526, Benin;
[email protected] (A.R.I.B.Y.);
[email protected] (C.O.A.A.) 2 Department of Rainfed Crop Production (DCP), National Institute of Agronomic Research of Niger (INRAN), Niamey BP 429, Niger;
[email protected] 3 Laboratory of Phytotechny, Plant Breeding and Plant Protection (LaPAPP), Department of Sciences and Techniques of Vegetal Production (STPV), Faculty of Agronomy, University of Parakou, Parakou BP 123, Benin;
[email protected] 4 Unité Mixte de Recherche Amélioration Génétique et Adaptation des Plantes (AGAP), Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), F-34398 Montpellier, France;
[email protected] 5 Amélioration Génétique et Adaptation des Plantes (AGAP), University of Montpellier, CIRAD, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), l’Institut Agro/Montpellier SupAgro, 2 Place Pierre Viala, 34060 Montpellier, France 6 Diversité, Adaptation et Développement des Plantes (DIADE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), University of Montpellier, 34060 Montpellier, France;
[email protected] 7 Faculty of Science and Techniques, University of Abdou Moumouni of Niamey, Niamey BP 10662, Niger;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +229-95-393283 or +227-96-401486 Received: 5 August 2020; Accepted: 17 September 2020; Published: 27 October 2020 Abstract: Fonio is an ancient orphan cereal, cultivated by resource-poor farmers in arid and semi-arid regions of West Africa, who conserved and used the cereal for nutrition and income generation.