The variation for some characters in cowpeas, Vigna unguiculata (L.) walp following ionizing radiation

Abstract

Ojomo O. A. and Chheda H. R. The variation for some characters in cowpeas , Vigna unguiculata ( L. ) Walp following ionizing radiation . Radiation Botany 12 , 373–380, 1972.—The genetic variation for yield, pods per plant, and time to flowering in two varieties of cowpeas, ‘Westbred’ and ‘Local Brown’ was studied in the M 3 generation following radiation with X-rays and neutrons. The materials were planted in double row plots with two replications. Analysis of data showed that the genetic variance in the irradiated populations were higher than in the control, in the range of 1·2–8 times. ‘Local Brown’ had higher variability than ‘Westbred’ following ionizing radiation, this has been attributed to the more primitive evolutionary status of ‘Local Brown’. The means of irradiated and control populations of the two varieties were not significantly different except for yield of ‘Westbred’ and time to flower of ‘Local Brown’ where means of irradiated populations were lower and higher than the respective control populations. By using pods per plant as a selection index, it was possible to make selections from irradiated populations of ‘Westbred’, which on the average yielded higher than similar selections from the control population.