Caracterização agro-morfológica de acessos de feijão-frade (Vigna unguiculata): bases para o melhoramento

Abstract

The morphological characterization of plant genetic resources is essential for the knowledge of phenotypic variation and relationships among genotypes. This information could be useful in the development of plant breeding programs. Cowpea is a grain legume cultivate worldwide due to its high nutritional values, nitrogen-fixing ability and adaptation to drought. A collection of 27 Portuguese cowpea accessions and 5 references were characterized by morphological and agronomic parameters, using six qualitative and eleven quantitative parameters. All accessions presented determinate growth and normal pods. Most of the accessions had erect growth habit (96.87%), white flowers (87.50%) and cream seeds (84.38%). The earliest accessions reached flowering at 77 days and the latest at 119 days after sowing. Concerning production traits, in average, the number of pods per plant ranged from 8.08 to 31.50 pods, the 100 seeds weight varied from 11.80 g to 30.85 g, and the total production from 40.96 g.m-2 to 153.65 g.m-2. In conclusion, a high variability was observed in this cowpea collection, which may be indicative of the potential for its incorporation in cowpea breeding programs. Since some of the morphological characteristics are influenced by environmental conditions, it will be very important to complement this study with a molecular characterization.