Performance of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) genotypes in Kymore plateau and Satpura Hills of Madhya Pradesh

The experimental material comprised of fifteen genotypes of cowpea including two checks viz. Kashi Kanchn and Arka Garima received from AICRP on Vegetable Crops, IIVR, Varanasi. The objective of the experiment was to identify suitable genotypes to be used as cultivar in Kymore plateau and Satpura Hillsof Madhya Pradesh. The analysis of variance revealed significant differences between genotypes indicating presence of sufficient amount of variability in all the characters studied. Wide range of variability was observed for days to first flowering, days to 50% flowering, number of inflorescences per plant, number of pods per inflorescence, pod yield per plant, number of pods per plant and days to last pod harvest indicating the scope for selection of suitable initial breeding material for further improvement. On the basis of the mean performance of the genotypes among traits studied, the following were identified as promising lines for further crop improvement in cowpea viz., 2012/COPBVAR-6, 2014/COPBVAR-6 and 2014/COPBVAR-5. Among all the genotypes studied, genotype2012/COPBVAR-6 recorded the highest pod yield per plant and found suitable to the local agro-climatic conditions