Moisture correction in pods of cowpea genotypes to estimate yield

Abstract

Moisture correction of fresh pods of cowpea genotypes has been used to correct weight differences of pods from the same harvest. Correction is made by the method of soaking pods and grains in water. This study verifies the need for moisture correction of fresh pods to estimate the yield of cowpea genotypes for production of green grains. Sixteen genotypes were evaluated for pod mass, grain mass, hundred grains mass, grain index, pod yield, and grain yield in two municipalities, Pentecoste and Marco, Ceara State, Brazil. For moisture correction, a sample of ten fresh pods was collected, weighed, and soaked in water. Samples were weighed until constant weight for wet mass. Subsequently, samples were dried in a forced air circulation oven and dry mass was obtained. Finally, a correlation study between the obtained data was performed. Correlation estimates were positive from low to medium magnitude. Correlations of greater magnitude were observed between fresh and dry masses. The original data showed greater representativeness of dry mass, indicating greater experimental precision. Therefore, moisture correction of fresh cowpea grains and pods proved to be unnecessary.