Back to Contents

FREE FULL TEXT PDF

IDENTIFICATION OF SUPERIOR GENOTYPES BASED ON MORPHOLOGICAL, PHYSIOLOGICALAND AGRONOMIC TRAITS IN LOCAL AND EXOTIC COWPEA GERMPLASM

MUHAMMAD SAJJAD IQBAL, AFSARI SHARIF QURESHI, ABDUL GHAFOOR AND ABDUL QAYYUM

Abstract: One hundred and thirty eight local as well as exotic accessions of cowpea were characterized and evaluated under field conditions at 33^o 42 N latitude and 73^o 08 E longitude at an altitude of 540 masl during summer 2000. The germplasm represents three continents (Asia, Africa, North America) and collected germplasm represents a wide ecogeographic range from dry mountainous regions to irrigated plains of Pakistan with altitude ranging from 0 to 1995 masl. Morphological traits (leaf shape, plant type, twinning tendency, flower color, immature pod color, mature pod color) and agronomic characters (chlorophyll contents, leaf area trifoliate^-1, days to first flower, days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height, branches^-1, pods plant^-1, 100-seed weight and grain yield plant^-1) were recorded for presentation. For qualitative traits, a considerable level of variability was observed for most of the characters and these can be used for species relationship along with allozymes. High range and variance for all the agronomic characters except branches plant^-1 indicated that improvement in cowpea could be successful by simple selection. The classification of germplasm gave rise to some elite lines for specific characters and the accessions for various characters and it was observed that some of these accessions possessed desirable genes for more than one character and hence these could be utilized directly or included in hybrid programme for varietal development. The accessions, 27075, 27094, IT 90K-277-2-1 were observed better for physiological traits, whereas 27001, 27120, 27124, IT 82F-16, IT 85F-867-5, IT 95K-181-9, 27108, 27011 and IT 93K-637-3 were observed better for yield contributing traits. It is suggested to use selected lines from local and exotic sources to develop physiologically efficient cultivars with high yield potential.

Department of Biological Sciences, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.