Research Article Phenotypic Diversity of Doum Palm (Hyphaene compressa), a Semi-Domesticated Palm in the Arid and Semi-Arid Regions of Kenya Agnes Omire , 1 Nancy L. M. Budambula , 2 Johnstone Neondo, 3 Robert Gituru, 1 and Cecilia Mweu 3 1 Department of Botany, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, P. O. Box 62000-00200, Nairobi, Kenya 2 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Embu, P. O. Box 6-60100, Embu, Kenya 3 Institute for Biotechnology Research, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, P. O. Box 62000-00200, Nairobi, Kenya Correspondence should be addressed to Cecilia Mweu; ceciliamweu@gmail.com Received 24 June 2020; Revised 30 November 2020; Accepted 8 December 2020; Published 29 December 2020 Academic Editor: Jos´ eA.Mercado Copyright©2020AgnesOmireetal.isisanopenaccessarticledistributedundertheCreativeCommonsAttributionLicense, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Hyphaene compressa is an economically important palm in Africa. Despite its significant role in the livelihoods of rural communities,thediversityofdoumpalmispoorlydocumentedandstudied.Inaddition,ithasnomodeldescriptorthatcanaid such studies. Ninety H. compressa accessions collected from Northern, Eastern, and Coastal regions of Kenya were examined to determine the morphological variability of the vegetative and fruit traits of H. compressa and to identify its morphotypes for improvement.Atotalof19morphologicalcharactersincludingsevenquantitativeand12qualitativetraitsoffruitandvegetative traits were selected. Linear mixed-effects models, principal component analysis, and linear discriminant analyses were used to assess the variation in the morphological traits of doum palm based on the regions. Hierarchical clustering was performed to identifythemorphotypesof H. compressa.erewasvariabilityin H. compressa morphologicaltraits,particularlyattheKenyan Coast.Allsevenquantitativetraitswereabletoeffectivelydiscriminatedoumpalmphenotypically (p ≤ 0.001).e90accessions clusteredintofivemorphotypesdesignatedas1,2,3,4,and5.Morphotype4wasspecificonlytotheCoastalregion.Morphotype5 hadthetallesttreeswiththebiggestfruitsandincludedpalmsfromEasternandCoastalregionsmakingitthebestmorphotypefor fruittraits.isstudywillinformthedomestication,improvement,andconservationof H.compressa byselectingeliteaccessions. 1. Introduction Hyphaene compressa (doum palm) H. Wendl. is a common palm in East Africa [1, 2]. It belongs to the Coryphoideae subfamily of the Arecaceae family [3]. e genus Hyphaene also known as the “doum palms” is predominant in Africa and has eight species, namely, H. compressa, H. guineensis Schumach. & onn, H. coriacea Gaertn., H. macrosperma H.Wendl., H.reptans Becc.,H.petersiana KlotzschexMart., H.dichotoma Furtado,and H.thebaica (L.)Mart.distributed in dry regions of Africa, Arabia, and India [2, 4]. In Africa, thegenus Hyphaene hasawiderangeofusesthatincludebut are not limited to the source of non-timber products for constructionmaterials,food,medicine,andwovenproducts as documented by several studies [1, 5, 6]. Despite the important economic role and contributions the genus makes to the palm family diversity in Africa, the genus is still poorly understood and evaluated [4, 7]. Of concern is the steady decline of doum palm populations in Africa due to destruction of their cradle habitat, drought, and overharvesting, thereby exacerbating pressure on the remaining African doum palm accessions which could in- evitably lead to loss of their gene pool [4]. In Kenya, H. compressa plays a significant role in the livelihoods of people especially the pastoralist communities whorelyonitforfood,constructionmaterials,medicine,and Hindawi Scientifica Volume 2020, Article ID 4920830, 13 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/4920830