Which cowpea variety could help breeders combine strong crop performance with high protein content?

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Cowpea is a major legume crop with high protein content and nutritional value, making it a potential tool against malnutrition. Identifying superior genotypes can support cowpea breeding. Genetic variability is a primary requirement for selecting high-yielding genotypes in a breeding population. Studying that variability helps breeders make effective selections and identify promising genotypes for developing new high-yielding varieties.

The researchers studied genetic variability in grain cowpea using 40 diverse exotic and indigenous genotypes. They evaluated ten quantitative traits over two consecutive years, 2020 and 2021. The field experiment at Pantnagar used a randomized block design with 3 replications. Data were recorded for all ten traits.

Mean squares were highly significant for every trait. Cluster analysis identified five genetically diverse clusters. Cluster I contained 8 genotypes, cluster II contained 9, cluster III contained 12, cluster IV contained 6 and cluster V contained 5. Cluster I had the greatest within-cluster distance (2.500), whereas cluster V had the smallest (1.701). Pant Lobia-2, a genotype in cluster V, exhibited the highest mean values for all traits.

The genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) were highest for the number of pods per plant (28.87 and 29.19, respectively), followed by yield measured in quintals per hectare (q/ha; 28.72 and 29.04, respectively). The higher phenotypic component compared with the corresponding genotypic component suggested an environmental influence on genotype performance.

Correlation analysis found positive correlations of pod length, pods per cluster and seeds per pod with yield in quintals per hectare. Path coefficient analysis showed significant positive direct relationships of plant height, peduncle length, pod length, number of pods per cluster, number of pods per plant and number of seeds per pod with yield in quintals per hectare.

Among the 40 genotypes evaluated, Pant Lobia-2 showed the best performance. It had attractive, large red seeds with 31% protein content. The researchers concluded that it could be used in grain cowpea breeding.