Phenotypic diversity of a wild Solanum population from the Ecuadorian Andes: morphological characterization and conservation relevance

The genetic resources of wild Solanum plants constitute reservoirs of variability of interest for the conservation and improvement of Andean crops. In this study, a wild population of Solanum sp., "tomatillo," located in Cascarillas, Bolívar, Ecuador, was characterized. Twenty independent individuals were evaluated using vegetative, fruit, and seed characteristics, complemented by principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis. The plants reached a height of 245.90 ± 29.72 cm and produced rough, predominantly conical fruits (4.17 × 2.61 cm; 76.94 g), with 251.60 seeds per fruit. The first three principal components explained 67.03% of the variability, identifying three phenotypic groups. Detectable genomic DNA (22.6 ng/µL) was obtained, although of limited purity. These results reveal intrapopulation phenotypic variability and support the conservation interest of this material as a potential plant genetic resource; however, its taxonomic identity requires confirmation through molecular and phylogenetic analyses.