PERFORMANCE OF THIRTY VARIETIES OF COWPEA (Vigna unguiculata L. WALP) IN ANYIGBA ENVIRONMENT OF KOGI STATE, NIGERIA
U. T. MUSA *
Department of Crop Production, Kogi State University, P.M.B. 1008, Anyigba, Kogi State, Nigeria.
M. J. YUSUF
Department of Crop Production, Kogi State University, P.M.B. 1008, Anyigba, Kogi State, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Thirty varieties of cowpea were grown during the raining season of 2016 to determine the relative performance of the varieties in Anyigba environment. Number of branches produced per plant was found not to be significant with variety, days to first flower and 50% flowering varied significantly with varieties grown. Seed yield per hectare, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pods pod yield and pod length varied significantly (P≤0.05) with variety. The highest seed yield of 1147 kg/ha was obtained with IT89KD288. However, this yield was not significantly different from those obtained with Ife-Brown (920 kg/ha), Sampea-4 (1027 kg/ha), Dippa (733 kg/ha) and Tchad (706 kg/ha). The performances of some of the varieties in relation to others, even though was slightly higher, but was found not to be statistically significant at 5% level of probability. The association characters also shows that positive and non-significant relationships existed between seed yield and numbers of seeds/pod, number of pods per plant, pod length, number of branches/plant, days to first flower and days to 50% flower.
Keywords: Local varieties, improved varieties, seed yield per hectare, pod length, number of seeds per pods, number of pods per plant