Inheritance of Pod Length and Other Yield Components in Two Cowpea and Yard-Long Bean Crosses

Abstract

This study determined the gene effects involved in the inheritance of pod length and other yield-related traits and relationships among traits in crosses between two cowpea lines (TVu 2280 and TVu 2027) and a yard-long bean (TVu 6642) line with long pods. Plants of six generations (P1, P2, F1, F2, BC1P1, and BC1P2) derived from TVu 2280 × TVu 6642 and TVu 2027 × TVu 6642 were evaluated under field conditions. Data collected on 14 yield components of each cross were used for generation mean analysis. Gene effects and their magnitudes varied with the crosses; digenic epistatic gene effects were detected for 10 traits in TVu 2280 × TVu 6642 and 11 traits in TVu 2280 × TVu 6642. Only additive gene effect was significant for pod length in TVu 2280 × TVu 6642 while additive, dominant, and two of the three digenic epistatic gene effects were significant in TVu 2027 × TVu 6642. Models that incorporated only significant additive, dominant, and digenic epistasis were adequate for all 14 traits in TVu 2280 × TVu 6642 and eight of the 12 traits in TVu 2027 × TVu 6642 for which model-fitting was possible. Across segregating generation of the two crosses, pod length (PodLNT) was significantly (p < 0.001) correlated with three major yield components viz. pod weight (0.84, 0.77), number of seeds per pod (0.41, 0.30) and seed weight per pod (0.61, 0.29). Significant correlation of PodLNT with seed yield per plant was moderate and significant (p < 0.01–0.001) in the BC1P1 of the two crosses (0.31 and 0.41). An improvement in cowpea seed yield is feasible through selection for long pods in segregating generations involving crosses with yard-long bean.

Phenotypic description of elite cowpea (Vigna ungiculata L. Walp) genotypes grown in drought-prone environments using agronomic traits

“…Selection for one of the positively correlated traits could result in indirect improvement of the other trait. Positive association between agronomic traits in cowpea were reported by several authors (Suganthi and Murugan, 2008;Edematie et al, 2021;Shanko et al, 2014;Mbuma et al, 2021).…”

Evaluation of Cowpea F2 Population for Resistance to Flower Bud Thrips (Megalurothrips sjostedti)

“…As a result, these lines should be considered M. sjostedti immune. "Pod load and percent active peduncles are important components of cowpea yield, and they can be used to determine cowpea genotypes' resistance or susceptibility to flower bud thrips" [33,34]. These are characteristics that breeders can depend on when choosing resistant lines in the field.…”

January 2024

“…reported a positive and significant (0.363**) correlation between pod length and number of seeds per pod. Similarly,Gerrano et al (2022) posted a positive and significant (0.82**) correlation between the two traits Edematie et al (2021). also posted positive and significant correlations (0.30 *** and 0.41 ***) between the two traits in different segregating populations of cowpeas.…”