KARYOMORPHOLOGICAL AND HETEROCHROMATIN SIMILARITIES AMONG 4 VIGNA SPECIES

Karyomorphological similarities among four species of the genus Vigna, V. unguiculata, V. luteola, V. oblongifolia and V. vexillata, were ev aluated. Two different approaches were followed: cytomorphometrical de terminations, carried out with an automated image analysis system to i mprove resolution, yielded some karyotypical indices; the distribution of heterochromatin bands was interpreted using a recently reported al gorithm. Both methods led to similar results: the most karyologically similar species to V. unguiculata appears to be V. luteola, while V. o blongifolia appears to be the least related one.