Heritability, genetic gain, and correlations in cowpea bean (Vigna unguiculata [L.] (Walp.)

Abstract

Cowpea beans are the most important legume in the Caribbean region of Colombia. This grain is produced mainly by small farmers in rural agriculture but is becoming more important every year for commercial agriculture. The objective of this study was to estimate heritability, genetic gain and correlations between agronomic characteristics and the nutritional content of 30 cowpea bean cultivars. The number of days to flowering (NDF), number of pods per plant (NPP), number of pods per peduncle (NPPE), peduncle length (PEL), number of nodes on main stem (NNMS), grain length (GL), grain width (GW), weight of 100 seeds (W100S), iron content (FeC), zinc content (ZnC), protein content in percentage (PROT) and YIELD were evaluated. Likewise, the genetic parameters: phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV), genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV), variability index (b), heritability [(h2 (%)], genetic gain (GG) and genetic progress (%), together with phenotypic correlations and genetic correlations, were determined. Genetic variability was evidenced in the population (P<0.05), except for PEL. The highest heritability was in W100S, ZnC and FeC (h2A> 96%). The greatest advance was achieved in ZnC, FeC, W100S and YIELD, with values higher than 30%, indicating the potential use of the evaluated genotypes for improving this species and positive and significant phenotypic and genotypic correlations between YIELD and PROT. Therefore, cultivars with higher yields and protein contents can be obtained.

Evaluation of Cowpea Landraces under a Mediterranean Climate

“…Several plant morphological traits have been found to be positively associated with cowpea seed yield, such as plant height [ 27 , 28 ], number of inflorescences per plant [ 29 , 30 , 31 ], number of branches [ 29 , 32 ], pod length [ 2 , 27 , 30 , 33 , 34 ], number of pods per plant [ 2 , 27 , 28 , 31 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ], number of seeds per plant [ 28 ], number of seeds per pod [ 2 , 27 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 33 , 36 ], pod weight [ 36 ], and hundred-seed weight [ 30 , 35 ]. In contrast, plant phenological traits’ associations with seed yield present inconsistency among studies, as days from sowing to flowering stage and to plant maturity have been either negatively [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 37 ] or positively related to seed yield [ 25 , 35 ]. Moreover, Gerrano et al [ 38 ] did not observe any of the ten agronomic and morphological traits they studied, such as plant length, pod length, and number of pods per plant, to be significantly associated with seed yield (t ha −1 ) while evaluating twenty selected genotypes.…”

“…However, yield is a complex and difficult trait to be directly improved, as it exhibits low heritability and pleiotropic effects [21]. Broad-sense heritability (H) for seed yield of cowpea ranges from 38.36% to 90.91% [22][23][24][25][26], while the genetic advance recorded in previous studies fluctuates from 4.55 to 8.25 [23,25].…”

Analysis of Genetic Diversity in Adzuki Beans (Vigna angularis): Insights into Environmental Adaptation and Early Breeding Strategies for Yield Improvement

“…The process of ovule development into seeds after fertilization is affected by the physiological conditions of the plant and the external environment [ 18 ]. The number of pods per plant in legumes is largely regulated by the number of pods in a single node [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. From flowering to the early stages of ovule formation, exogenous cytokinin treatment has been shown to significantly promote the number of pods per segment [ 23 , 24 ].…”

Path analysis between fruit biometric traits of Caesalpinia ebano H. Karst

“…The improvement of a trait of interest can be done through the indirect selection of other traits that are associated with it and less complex, with higher heritability, which would make the selection more efficient and safe (Gupta et al, 2017;Araméndiz-Tatis et al, 2020;. Studies of associations between traits based on their phenotypic and genetic correlations make it possible to improve the efficiency of selection in genetic improvement programs, improve the quality of the products, and achieve greater genetic progress (Pérez-Pelea et al, 2018;Araméndiz-Tatis et al, 2020;Araméndiz-Tatis et al, 2021). Several authors have developed correlation studies between the biometric traits of the fruit and its seeds in forest species (Leão et al, 2017;Dos-Santos et al, 2018;Ristau et al, 2018).…”