Screening of cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] for aluminium tolerance in relation to growth, yield and related traits

Abstract

Present study was carried out to screen the cowpea genotypes and to determine the effect of different level of aluminium on morpho-physiological, growth, yield and quality attributes. Twenty cowpea genotypes with four aluminium levels i.e. 0, 20, 40, 60 ppm in three replications was investigated in factorial complete randomized block design. Individual main effect and their interaction effects were studied for plant height at weekly interval, biomass, number of nodule per plant, root length, shoot length, dry matter of root, shoot, leaf, total dry matter, number of pod per plant, pod weight, yield and seed protein content. Cowpea genotypes exhibited significant differences for all 13 observed traits. Aluminium treatment expressed significant differences for all the attributes under study except biomass per plant. However, interaction effect was found to be significant for all studied characters except plant height at all stages. Among the aluminium treatments; observed traits were performing better at 20 ppm of Al, whereas, pod yield and protein content were best under the control.