Abstract
Seventy one accessions of Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walpers belonging to 31 districts of three provinces across Pakistan were characterized. High variation was recorded in plant height, branches per plant, pods per plant, grain yield, biomass and harvest index. It has been derived from current studies that migration of germplasm or seeds were observed across various areas that might be due to frequent exchange of grains, between different markets and transportation without any provincial laws implementations. High phenotypic diversity indicates the potential land races collected from farmer’s field might be utilized for crop improvement programs viz., 27028, 27029, 27038, 27040, 27042, 27047, 27083 and 27097. Phenotypic diversity analyzed within each district indicated the possibility of migration of landraces at one hand and on the other hand variation appears attributable to different districts without influence that how frequently area was explored. Intra and inter-specific variances deviated from central tendency depicted on the map of Pakistan shall be proved beneficial for future germplasm collectors to devise strategy for collecting genes of interest. New expeditions may be conducted in the main cowpea growing areas with focusing geographically and ecologically distinct areas, rather than fields closer to motorable roads. Keywords: Underutilized crops; Legumes; Landraces; Genetic diversity http://dx.doi.org/10.19045/bspab.2017.600134
Highlights
Seventy one accessions of Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walpers belonging to 31 districts of three provinces across Pakistan were characterized
Data recorded were subjected to statistical analysis by means of variance to find intra and inter-specific variation along with average agronomic performance for individual accessions with deviation from central tendency using the methods provided by Steel and Torrie [12]
Variation within accessions was statistically insignificant for most of the accessions but higher magnitude for variation that is reflected in deviation from central point indicated the presence of land races or heterogeneous mixture of homozygous lines (Table 2)
Summary
Seventy one accessions of Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walpers belonging to 31 districts of three provinces across Pakistan were characterized. High variation was recorded in plant height, branches per plant, pods per plant, grain yield, biomass and harvest index It has been derived from current studies that migration of germplasm or seeds were observed across various areas that might be due to frequent exchange of grains, between different markets and transportation without any provincial laws implementations. The crop cowpea ranges from half to one tonne per is well adapted to diverse environmental hectare that is very low as compared to its conditions and can be grown in poor potential [7]. It is cultivated on marginal soils and semi arid regions [3]. Standard deviation from aggregated variance were taken as an indicator for genetic biodiversity which are represented as in percentage plant samples differed i.e., from none to 100 percent and depicted on the map along with total number of accessions
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