Character Associations in Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp]

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Date
2016
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MPUAT, Udaipur
Abstract
The present investigation entitled “Character Associations in Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp]” was carried with 60 genotypes (including three checks namely RC-19, RC-101 and RCV-7) during Kharif- 2015 at the Research Farm of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Rajasthan college of Agriculture, MPUAT Udaipur. The genotypes were planted in a randomized block design with three replications. The observations were recorded for 16 characters viz, Days to 50% flowering, Number of flowers per plant, Number of flowers per cluster, Days to maturity, Plant height, Number of primary branches per plant, Number of pods per plant, Number of clusters per plant, Number of pods per cluster, Pod length, Number of seeds per pod, Test weight, Seed yield per plant, Biological yield per plant, Harvest index and Seed protein content on five randomly selected plants from each genotypes in all the replications while days to 50% flowering and days to maturity which were recorded on plot basis and average values was subjected to analysis of variance, estimation of variability parameters, correlation and path coefficient. The estimates of genotypic parameters revealed that differences between the estimates of GCV and PCV were found least for most of the characters. Higher estimates of GCV were observed for seed yield per plant, biological yield per plant and plant height. Maximum heritability was found for plant height followed by biological yield per plant, test weight and seed protein content. While, maximum genetic gain was observed for plant height, biological yield per plant, seed yield per plant and number of primary branches per plant. Association estimates revealed that seed yield per plant was highly significant and positively correlated at both genotypic and phenotypic levels with biological yield per plant, number of pods per plant, test weight, number of seeds per pod and plant height. Present experimental findings revealed that characters plant height, biological yield per plant, seed yield per plant, test weight and number of primary branches per plant showed high GCV, heritability and genetic gain. Hence, selection can be made for improvement of these characters. Path coefficient analysis revealed maximum direct effect by biological yield per plant (0.995) followed by harvest index (0.672). While, other characters viz, number of pods per cluster (0.620) followed by biological yield per plant (0.320) and harvest index (0.077) exhibited high indirect effects on seed yield per plant through number of flowers per plant. The present investigation revealed that the test genotypes CPD-197, GC-3, CPD-201, CPD-204, CPD-200, FS-68, CPD-207, CPD-209, CPD-211, CPD-212, CPD-169 were found to combine many of desirable yield component traits. Therefore, these genotypes seem to be promising and may be used in future breeding programme of cowpea. It is concluded from the genetic parameters of variation, correlation and path coefficient analysis study that seed yield in cowpea can be improved by focusing on character biological yield per plant, harvest index, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod and plant height.
Description
Character Associations in Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp]
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Citation
Sharma and Sharma, 2016
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