Evaluation of four Mozambican cowpea landraces for drought tolerance

Abstract

The southern part of Mozambique is vulnerable to drought affecting the country's food production requiring more drought-tolerant crops. Four local cowpea landraces, Massava nhassenje, Timbawene moteado, Namarua and Tete-2, which are currently widely used by local Mozambican farmers, were evaluated for their drought tolerance with the aim to identify the most drought-tolerant landrace and also a phenotypic marker easily applicable for drought tolerance selection under local Mozambican conditions. Above-and below-ground plant characteristics, including biomass, protein content, proteolytic activity, symbiotic nitrogen fixation and nodule number, were measured in a greenhouse under well-watered and drought conditions using vermiculite as plant growth medium. Key finding was that variability exists among the landraces for growth under drought with Timbawene moteado displaying significantly higher leaf dry biomass, leaf and nodule protein content and symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF) and lowest increase in proteolytic activity compared to all other landraces. Timbawene moteado 2 might be suitable for inclusion into a future cowpea breeding program in Mozambique and might also be tested in other areas in Mozambique experiencing drought stress. Further, leaf dry biomass might be selected as a simple and informative marker for future screening of the Mozambican cowpea germplasm for drought tolerance.

Selection of Novel Cowpea Genotypes Derived through Gamma Irradiation

“…Mutants with bushy GH had reduced number of branches per plant. These characters are indicated to be associated with some physiological properties of the plant including leaf senescence and indeterminate GH (Hall, 2004; Martins et al, 2014). It is reported that characteristics altered through mutation breeding can be combined through the conventional breeding to improve crop performance and drought adaptation (Ehlers and Hall, 1997).…”

Comparative Mutagenic Effectiveness and Efficiency of Gamma Rays and Sodium Azide in Inducing Chlorophyll and Morphological Mutants of Cowpea

“…On the contrary, Horn et al [ 4 ] isolated bushy growth habit mutants in γ-irradiated cowpea with fewer branches. Hall [ 56 ] and Martins et al [ 57 ] opined that bushy growth habits might be attributed to the plant’s altered physiological properties, including leaf senescence and indeterminate growth habit. Similarly, spreading growth habit mutants were isolated in cowpea treated with different doses of γ rays [ 4 ].…”

Contributions of African Crops to American Culture and Beyond: The Slave Trade and Other Journeys of Resilient Peoples and Crops

“…Overall, cowpeas consumed regularly in diversified diets can assist children and pregnant and/or breastfeeding mothers in attaining nutritional security, or fighting micronutrient deficiencies such as vitamin A deficiency (Akpalu et al, 2014;Owade et al, 2020). The high protein content of cowpea is derived from its association with symbiotic root nitrogen-fixing microbes which ultimately also contributes to sustainable agriculture and restoration of soil health (Akpalu et al, 2014;Martins et al, 2014;Horn et al, 2016). Reports of post-harvest losses of cowpea grain and leaves, however, are high, namely due to challenges in handling, distribution, and nutritional quality deterioration in storage (Owade et al, 2020).…”