Background: Local knowledge and perception are crucial to undertake the domestication of useful species such as Vitellaria paradoxa that makes significant contribution to rural household economy in Africa. This study aims to document shea morphotypes diversity based on folk knowledge especially the main criteria farmers used to distinguish shea trees and to examine the influence of sociodemographic characteristics on that knowledge. Methods: 405 respondents were surveyed across shea parklands in Benin using semi-structured questionnaire. We used the relative citation frequency of criteria followed by Kruskal-Wallis test to evaluate the influence of sociodemographic attributes on local knowledge of Shea morphotypes variation. Factorial Correspondence Analysis described the links between the different morphotypes and parklands, and Principal Components Analysis was used to characterize farmers perception on morphotypes’ abundance, fruits and butter yields. Results: Respondents identified 13 morphotypes based on the five most cited criteria which are fruit size (55.5%), tree fertility (15.40%), bark colour (10.51%), timing of production (5.38%) and pulp taste (3.42%). The citation frequency of classification criteria varied significantly depending on the age, the education level and the sociolinguistic group of the respondent. The Bembèrèkè zone shea parkland revealed higher diversity of morphotypes traits. The small fruit type (‘Yanki’) was reported to be widespread. It produces higher fruit and butter yields according to respondents. Conclusions: From our findings, farmers perceived an important diversity of shea traits that are used to classify morphotypes with economic or sociocultural importance. The revelation of that natural variation in shea tree is a key step toward the development of shea improvement program that could focus on the morphotype Yanki reported to be potentially high in fruit production and butter yield.

Trait diversity is crucial in undertaking the domestication of useful species such as Vitellaria paradoxa which makes a significant contribution to the rural household economy in Africa. This study aims to document the criteria farmers use to distinguish shea trees; how they vary according to age, education level and sociolinguistic group; and their perception of trees’ abundance and production. We surveyed 405 respondents across shea parklands in Benin using a semi-structured questionnaire. We used the Kruskal-Wallis test to evaluate the influence of sociodemographic attributes on relative criteria citation frequency and principal components analysis to characterize farmers’ perception on morphotypes’ abundance, fruits, and butter yields. The five most cited criteria were fruit size (55.5%), tree fertility (15.40%), bark colour (10.51%), timing of production (5.38%), and pulp taste (3.42%). The citation frequency of criteria varied significantly depending on the sociodemographic factors considered. Trees having small fruit (‘Yanki’) were reported to be widespread and high fruit/nuts and butter producers. Farmers perceived five important traits with variable importance depending on the sociocultural factors studied. This finding is a key step toward the development of a shea improvement program that could focus on the morphotype Yanki reported to potentially be a high fruit and butter producer.