Performance Evaluation of Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) Varieties under Moisture Conservation Practices for Yield and Yield Components at Alduba, Southern Ethiopia

A field experiment was conducted at Alduba, Southern Ethiopia to determine the effect of moisture conservation practices and varieties on yield and yield components of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) under rain fed condition in 2013. The experiment was conducted with two levels of moisture conservation practices (farmers practice and tied ridge), eight cowpea varieties (Black-eye bean, Bole, Maze-1, Asrat, Bekur, Assebot, IT-99k-1122 and White-wonder-trail). The experimental design was a split plot with three replications where, moisture conservation practice was arranged as main plot factor and cowpea varieties were arranged as sub plot factors, respectively. Phenological and growth parameters such as yield and yield components, total biomass and harvest index were studied. The result showed that all phenological and growth parameters were not significantly affected by moisture conservation practices. The number of days required to reach at mid flowering, pod setting and maturity were delayed when tied ridge was used. Use of tied ridge increased all the studied phenological parameters except number of branches per plant. Yield and yield components were not significantly affected by moisture conservation practices. Even though, moisture conservation practices did not bring significant effect on grain yield, but yield advantage of tied ridge was 26% over farmers practice in this study. There were significant variations observed among the cowpea varieties for all the phenological and growth parameters under study. There were significant variations observed among the cowpea varieties for all the yield and yield components in the study. The maximum grain yields (12.94 qt ha-1) and (12.44 qt ha-1) were recorded from the varieties IT-99K-1122 and Assebot, respectively. There was no significant interaction between moisture conservation practices and varieties for all the studied parameters except grain yield. Therefore, it can be concluded from this result that use of tied ridge or the best performing varieties of cowpea namely, IT-99K-1122 or Assebot is advisable and could be appropriate for cowpea production in the test area even though further testing is required to put the recommendation on a strong basis. Keywords: Tied ridge, Varieties, Farmers Practic