Annals of
Reviews and Research
Research Review
Ann Rev Resear
Copyright © All rights are reserved by Tariku Simion
Volume 3 Issue 3 - August 2018
Breeding Cowpea Vignaunguiculata
l. Walp for Quality Traits
Tariku Simion*
Arbaminch Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopia
Submission: March 12, 2018; Published: August 27, 2018
*
Corresponding author: Tariku Simion, South Agricultura Research Institute, Arbaminch Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopia,
Email:
Abstract
Cowpea is truly a multifunctional crop, providing food for man and livestock and serving as a valuable and dependable revenue-generating
commodity for farmers and grain traders. Cowpea is of major importance to the livelihoods of millions of people in less developed countries of
the tropics. It is consumed in many forms. Young leaves, green pods, and green seeds are used as vegetables, and dry seeds are used in various
food preparations with 25% protein (on dry-weight basis) in its seeds and tender leaves, cowpea is a major source of protein, minerals, and
vitamins in the daily diets in Africa, and thus it positively influences the health of men, women and children. The bulk of the diet of the rural and
urban poor in Africa consists of starchy food made from cassava, yam, plantain and banana, millet, sorghum, and maize. The addition of even a
small amount of cowpea ensures a nutritional balance and enhances the protein quality by the synergistic effect of high protein and high lysine
from cowpea and high methionine and high energy from the starchy foods. Trading fresh produce and processed cowpea foods and snacks
provides rural and urban women opportunity for earning cash income. A good knowledge of crop taxonomy contributes to an efficient use of
germplasm for hybridization in the breeding programs. In addition, the results of hybridizations and cross compatibilities provide the basis for
improving plant classification. Large and diverse cowpea germplasm collections are available to the researchers around the world, especially in
Africa, to exploit the valuable genes to improve cowpea cultivars.
Keywords: Synergistic effect; Quality and Hybridizations
Introduction
Cowpea [Vignaunguiculata (L.) Walp.] is one of the most
important food and forage legumes in the semi-arid tropics
that include parts of Asia, Africa, Southern Europe, Southern
United States, and Central and South America [1]. It is truly
a multifunctional crop, providing food for man and livestock
and serving as a valuable and dependable revenue-generating
commodity for farmers and grain traders [2]. The cowpea plant
is a herbaceous, warm-season annual requiring temperatures
of at least 18 ℃ throughout all stages of its development and
having an optimal growing temperature of about 28 ℃ [3]. Seeds
of cultivated cowpea types weigh between 80mg and 320mg
and range in shape from round to kidney-shaped. The seed pods
contain between eight and 18 seeds per pod and are cylindrical
and curved or straight. The seed coat varies in texture (e.g.,
smooth, rough, or wrinkled), color (e.g., white, cream, green,
buff, red, brown, black), and uniformity (e.g., solid, speckled, or
patterned). Seeds of the most well-known cowpea types, such as
“blackeye pea” and “pinkeye,” are white with a round irregularly
shaped black or red pigmented area encircling the hilum that gives
the seed the appearance of an eye. Cowpea is primarily a short-day
plant or in some instances, day-neutral [4]. Floral bud initiation
and development is sensitive to photoperiod in many cowpea
accessions, and in some genotypes the degree of photoperiod
Ann Rev Resear 3(3): ARR.MS.ID.555609 (2018)
sensitivity (i.e., the extent of delay in flowering) is influenced by
temperature [5]. In West Africa, selection for differing degrees of
photosensitivity or differences in extent of juvenile growth has
occurred in different climatic zones resulting in genotypes where
pod ripening occurs at the end of the rainy season in a given locale,
regardless of planting date that often varies due to the variable
onset of wet seasons [6]. This attribute allows pods to escape
damage from excessive moisture and pathogens.
A drought tolerant and warm weather crop, cowpea is well
adapted to the drier regions of the tropics, where other food
legumes do not perform well. It also has the unique ability to fix
atmospheric nitrogen through its nodules and it grows well even
in poor soils with more than 85% sand and with less than 0.2%
organic matter and low levels of phosphorus [7]. In addition, it
is shade tolerant and therefore, compatible as an intercrop with
maize, millet, sorghum, sugarcane, and cotton as well as with
several plantation crops and thus it forms a valuable component
of the traditional cropping systems [8]. Coupled with these
attributes, its quick growth and rapid ground cover checks soil
erosion and in-situ decay of its roots, and nitrogen-rich residue
improves soil fertility and structure, which together have made
cowpea an important component of subsistence agriculture,
particularly in the dry savannas of Sub-Saharan Africa [8]. Nigeria
is the largest producer and consumer of cowpea, with about 5
001
Annals of Reviews and Research
million ha area and about 2.4 million tons produced annually.
Niger Republic is the next largest producer, with 3 million ha and
more than 350,000 tons produced. Northeast Brazil grows about
1.5 million ha of cowpea, with about 491,558 tons produced, which
provides food to about 25 million people. In the southern U.S.,
about 40,000 ha of cowpea is grown, with an estimated 45,000
tons annual production of dry cowpea seed and a large amount
of frozen green cowpeas. India is the largest cowpea producer in
Asia, and together with Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal,
Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, and other far eastern
countries, there may be more than 1.5 million ha under cowpea
in Asia [6].
Cowpea is of major importance to the livelihoods of millions
of people in less developed countries of the tropics. It is consumed
in many forms. Young leaves, green pods, and green seeds are
used as vegetables, and dry seeds are used in various food
preparations [9]. With 25% protein (on dry-weight basis) in its
seeds and tender leaves [10], cowpea is a major source of protein,
minerals, and vitamins in the daily diets in Africa, and thus it
positively influences the health of men, women and children
[11]. The bulk of the diet of the rural and urban poor in Africa
consists of starchy food made from cassava, yam, plantain and
banana, millet, sorghum, and maize. The addition of even a small
amount of cowpea ensures a nutritional balance and enhances the
protein quality by the synergistic effect of high protein and high
lysine from cowpea and high methionine and high energy from the
starchy foods. Trading fresh produce and processed cowpea foods
and snacks provides rural and urban women opportunity for
earning cash income. Cowpea is equally important as nutritious
fodder for livestock, particularly in the dry savannas of West Africa
[12] reviewed the literature on the use of cowpea haulms as fodder
in different parts of the world. In West Africa, the mature cowpea
pods are harvested, and the haulms are cut while still green and
rolled into small bundles containing the leaves and vines. These
bundles are stored on rooftops or on tree forks for use and for
sale as “Harawa” (feed supplement) in the dry season, making
cowpea haulms the key factor for crop-livestock systems [13]. On
the dry-weight basis, the price of cowpea haulms ranges between
50 and 80% of the grain price, and therefore, haulms constitute an
important source of income. Just like cowpea grains and leaves,
the nutritive value of cowpea haulms is also very high. The crude
protein content ranges from 13 to 17% in cowpea haulms, with
high digestibility and low fiber [14], and thus, cowpea fodder is a
good protein supplement to cereal stalks for feeding livestock. The
objective of this paper is to review the effort that has been made to
improve cowpea for quality traits.
Origin and distribution
Major diversity in cowpea is found in Asia and Africa, but
the precise origin of cowpea has been a matter of speculation
and discussion for many years. Early observations showed that
cowpeas in Asia were divers and morphologically different from
those in Africa. Therefore, both Asia and Africa were thought
to be independent centers of origin of cowpea. However, in the
002
absence of wild cowpeas in Asia as possible progenitors, an Asian
center of origin has recently been questioned. All the current
evidence suggests that cowpea originated in Southern Africa,
although it is difficult to ascertain where in Africa the crop was
first domesticated. Several centers of domestication have been
suggested, such as Ethiopia, Central Africa, South Africa, and West
Africa.
Suggested that cowpea probably moved from Eastern Africa
to India before 150 BC, to West Asia and Europe about 300 BC,
and to the Americas in 1500 AD. Since Western Asia and Europe
do not have desired climatic conditions for cowpea, not as much
variability and selection occurred as in South Asia and South East
Asia, where small seeded and vegetable cowpeas were selected.
The wild cowpeas with very small seeds were probably distributed
by birds in East and West Africa long before the Christian Era, and
therefore, there exist great diversity and secondary wild forms
there. Selections for larger seeds and better growth habits from
natural variants in wild cowpeas by humans must have led to
diverse cult groups and their domestication in Asia and in Africa.
Using chloroplast DNA polymorphism, suggested Nigeria to be
the center of domestication in West Africa. In contrast, studies
based on analysis of amplified fragment length polymorphism
(AFLP) profiles led Coulibaly et al. [14] to propose domestication
in northeastern Africa.
Currently, the wild cowpea, Vigna unguiculata ssp. unguiculata
var. spontanea, is thought to be the likely progenitor of cultivated
cowpea [15]. Using a new set of chloroplast DNA primers
evaluated 54 domesticated cowpea accessions and 130 accessions
from the wild progenitor [14]. They confirmed the earlier
observation of [16] that domesticated accessions, including
primitive landraces from cultivar groups biflora and textilis, are
missing the BamHI restriction site in chloroplast DNA, suggesting
that this mutation occurred prior to domestication. However, 40
var. spontanea accessions distributed from Senegal to Tanzania
and South Africa showed the alternative haplotype. Whereas this
marker could not be used to identify a precise center of origin,
it’s very high frequency in West Africa was interpreted as a result
of either genetic swamping of the wild/weedy gene pool by the
domesticated cowpea gene pool or as the result of domestication
by ethnic groups focusing primarily on cowpea as fodder [17]. It
is likely that the cowpea was first introduced to India during the
Neolithic period [18] and was certainly there before the Christian
era, since it has a Sanskrit name in writings dated to 150 BC [19].
It is at that point that human selection led to it being modified
to a form different from that present in Africa. Cowpea probably
moved to West Asia and parts of Europe between 800 and 300 BC.
Taxonomy
Cowpea is a Dicotyledonous belonging to the order Fabaceae,
subfamily Faboideae (Syn. Papillionoideae), tribe Phaseoleae,
subtribe Phaseolinae, genus Vigna, and section Catiang [16]. Vigna
is a pantropical and highly variable genus with several species,
the number varying from 84 to 184 [20]. The genus Vigna has
been subdivided into seven subgenera: Vigna, Sigmoidotropis,
How to cite this article: Tariku Simion. Breeding Cowpea Vignaunguiculata l. Walp for Quality Traits. Ann Rev Resear. 2018; 3(3): 555609.
Annals of Reviews and Research
Plectotropis, Macrophynca, Ceratotropis, The subgenus Vigna
has been futher subdivided into six sections: Vigna, Comosae,
Macrodontae, Reticulatae, Liebrechtsia, and Catiang. Cowpea
belongs to section Catiang, which, according to Verdcourt
[21], consisted of five species, V. unguiculata, V. pubescence, V.
augustifoliolata, V. tenuis, and V. nervosa. However, [22] reduced
these to only two species, V. unguiculata and V. nervosa and
classified the others into subspecies of V. unguiculata.
Gene pool
A good knowledge of crop taxonomy contributes to an efficient
use of germplasm for hybridization in the breeding programs. In
addition, the results of hybridizations and cross compatibilities
provide the basis for improving plant classification. This
approach has permitted grouping of the germplasm available
for hybridization into primary, secondary, or tertiary gene pools
[23]. The primary gene pool includes both the cultivated and the
wild forms, which are easily hybridized. The secondary and the
tertiary gene pools comprise all the species among which gene
flow is possible through interspecific hybridization but with
increasing degrees of difficulty. The boundary between secondary
and tertiary gene pools may not always be well defined. In general,
when the cross is successful but the F1 hybrid is less fertile or
presents moderate structural heterology, the donor species will
then be considered to belong to the secondary gene pool. Thus, the
secondary gene pool comprises other species that are relatives of
the crop and are suitable for interspecific hybridization. Thus, the
tertiary gene pool involves still greater barriers to hybridization
compared to the secondary gene pool, embracing species that
display either unviable or sterile hybrids with the cultivated
plant and do not permit gene flow by conventional methods of
introgression.
Germplasm resource
The significance of cowpea germplasm collection, evaluation,
preservation, and use for improving cowpea cultigens has been
reviewed Prior to 1967, a few national agricultural research
programs, such as Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda in
Africa; India in Asia; and the U.S. in the Americas, had some level of
cowpea improvement program, and they were maintaining some
collection of cowpea germplasm. However, with the establishment
of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in
1967 and its global mandate for the improvement of cowpea, IITA
has made a collection of cowpea germplasm exceeding 15,100
accessions of cultivated varieties drawn from more than 100
countries and 560 accessions of wild cowpeas. The germplasm
lines maintained at IITA have been numbered as TVv (Tropical V.
unguiculata, i.e., TVu-1, TVu-2, etc.). These have been characterized
and evaluated for desirable traits and are being preserved and used
in the breeding program at IITA, as well as in national breeding
programs [24]. These large and diverse cowpea germplasm
collections are available to all the cowpea researchers around the
world, especially in Africa, to exploit the valuable genes to improve
cowpea cultivars.
003
Economic, agronomic and social importance
Cow pea [Vignaunguiculata (L). Walp] [25] is known by a
variety of names worldwide, with cowpea being among the most
prevalent in the literature. In the English-speaking parts of Africa, it
is known as cowpea where as in the Francophone regions of Africa,
the name “niébé” is most often used. Local names for cowpea also
include “seub” and “niao” in Senegal, “wake” in Nigeria, and “luba
hilu” in the Sudan. In the United States, it is typically referred to as
blackeye beans, blackeye peas, and southern peas. On the Indian
subcontinent, it is called “lobia” and in Brazil it is “caupi.” The seed,
or grain as it is sometimes referred to, is the most important part
of the cowpea plant for human consumption. The seeds are most
often harvested and dried for storage and consumption at a later
time, either after cooking whole or after being milled like a flour
product such as cowpea, plays a critical role in the lives of millions
of people in the developing world, providing them a major source
of dietary protein that nutritionally complements low-protein
cereal and tuber crop staples [26].
The nutritional profile of cowpea grain is similar to that of
other pulses with a relatively low-fat content and a total protein
content that is two- to fourfold higher than cereal and tuber crops.
Similar to other pulses, the storage proteins in cowpea seeds are
rich in the amino acids lysine and tryptophan when compared to
cereal grains, but low in methionine and cystiene when compared
to animal proteins. Total seed protein content ranges from 23% to
32% of seed weight [19]. Cowpea seeds are also a rich source of
minerals and vitamins and among plants have one of the highest
contents of folic acid, a B vitamin necessary during pregnancy to
prevent birth defects in the brain and spine. In the southeastern
parts of the United States, portions of West Africa, Asia, and in the
Caribbean, consuming fresh seeds and green pods is preferred to
the cooked dry seeds. In many parts of Africa and Asia, in addition
to the seeds, the fresh or dried leaves are also consumed as a
side dish or as part of a stew and provide significant nutritional
value. In addition to human consumption, cowpea leaves and
stems (stover) are also an important source of high-quality hay for
livestock feed [11]. Cowpea fodder plays a particularly critical role
in feeding animals during the dry season in many parts of West
Africa. Although protease inhibitors have been found in the seed,
the use of cowpea grain does not apparently present any serious
nutritional problems in animal nutrition and has been used
an alternative to other costlier grain protein sources of animal
feed. Dry grain production is the only commodity of cowpea
for which production estimates are generated on a worldwide
basis. According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural
Organization (FAO), approximately 4 million metric tons of dry
cowpea grain are produced annually on about 10 million ha
worldwide. About 70% of cowpea production occurs in the drier
Savanna and Sahelian zones of West and Central Africa, where the
crop is usually grown as an intercrop with pearl millet (Pennisetum
glaucum) or sorghum (Sorghum bicolor). In these regions,
cowpea is less frequently planted in monoculture or intercropped
with maize (Zea mays), cassava (Manihot esculenta), or cotton
How to cite this article: Tariku Simion. Breeding Cowpea Vignaunguiculata l. Walp for Quality Traits. Ann Rev Resear. 2018; 3(3): 555609.
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(Gossypium sp.) [27]. Other important cowpea production areas
include the lower elevation areas of eastern and southern Africa,
low elevation areas in South America (particularly in Peru and
northeastern Brazil), parts of India, and the southeastern and
southwestern regions of North America.
Nigeria is the largest producer and consumer of cowpea grain
with approximately 5 million ha under cultivation with an annual
yield estimate at 2.0 million metric tons. After Nigeria, Niger and
Brazil are the next largest producers with annual yields estimated
at 650,000mt and 490,000mt, respectively. Commercial trading of
dry cowpea grain and hay are particularly important to the local
and regional economies of West Africa. Most of the cowpea grain
sold at large commercial markets in large urban centers of coastal
West Africa is produced further inland where climates are drier
and favorable to production of high-quality grain. Compared to
other legumes, cowpea is known to have good adaptation to high
temperatures and resistance to drought stress [28]. For example,
Hall [22] reported cowpea grain yields of as much as 1000kg
ha-1 of dry grain in a Sahelian environment with low humidity
and only 181mm of rainfall. At present, few other legume crop
species are capable of producing significant quantities of grain
under these conditions. Cowpea is also a valuable component of
farming systems in areas where soil fertility is limiting. This is
because cowpea has a high rate of nitrogen fixation forms effective
symbiosis with mycorrhizae [20].
In addition, well-adapted, early maturing cowpea varieties
capable of producing seed in as few as 55 days after planting often
provide farmers with the first source of food from the current
harvest sooner than any other crop. In the developing world
where soil infertility is high, rainfall is limiting, and most of the
cowpea is grown without the use of fertilizers and plant protection
measures (i.e., pesticides or herbicides), a wide variety of biotic
and abiotic constraints also limit growth and severely limit yield.
While cowpea is inherently more drought-tolerant than other
crops, water availability is still among the most significant abiotic
constraints to growth and yield. Erratic rainfall at the beginning
and towards the end of the rainy season adversely affects plant
growth and flowering resulting in a substantial reduction in grain
yield and total biomass production. The use of early maturing
cultivars helps farmers escape the effects of a late season drought,
but plants exposed to intermittent moisture stress during the
vegetative or reproductive stages will perform very poorly.
Anti-nutritional factors: Anti-nutritional factors are
plant’s secondary metabolites which act to reduce food nutrient
utilization [29]. Anti-nutritional factors affect susceptibility
of grains to insect attack [30]. However, the presence of antinutritional factors commonly found in legumes is a major factor
limiting the wider food use of these essential tropical plants
[31]. For instance, phytic acid and Oxalic acid reduce mineral
bioavailability that leads to various mineral deficiency diseases
e.g. anemia [32] or form deleterious complexes with metal ions
e.g. calcium-oxalate that leads to renal damage [33]. Plants contain
thousands of compounds which, depending upon the situations,
004
can have beneficial or deleterious effects on organisms consuming
them. These compounds, with the exception of nutrients, are
referred to as ‘allelochemicals’. Anti-nutrients have been shown
to possess pharmacological values. Tannins for examples, possess
anticancer and cytotoxin properties. Tannins are complex
polyphenolic found widely in the plant kingdom. Phytic acid’s
mineral binding properties are believed to prevent colon cancer
by reducing oxidative stress in the lumen of the intestinal tract.
The chelating effect may serve to prevent, inhibit, or even cure
some cancers by depriving those cells of the minerals (especially
iron) they need to reproduce. Ant-nutrients are found in almost
all foods. However, their levels are reduced in most common
food crops probably through selection during the process of
domestication. Nevertheless, the large fraction of human diets that
come from these crops raise concern about the possible effects
of anti-nutrients on human health. The possibility now exists to
eliminate anti-nutrients entirely using genetic engineering, but
since these compounds may also have beneficial effects, such
genetic modifications could make the food crops more nutritious
without the capacity to improve other aspects of human health
[34].
Phytic and oxalic acids [35] are among the major antinutrients present in plant protein sources both being antiminerals. Phytic acid, also known as inositol hexakisphosphate
(IP6), or phytate when in salt form is the principal storage form of
phosphorus in many plant tissues, especially bran and seeds [36].
It is not digestible to humans or non-ruminant animals, because
these animals lack the digestive enzyme (phytase) required to
remove phosphate from the inositol in the phytate molecule. On
the other hand, ruminants readily digest phytate because of the
phytase produced by microorganisms in their rumen. Phytate is
well documented to block absorption of not only phosphorus, but
also of other minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc
[37]. Thus, foods high in these anti-nutrients should be adequately
processed to make them wholesome for consumers. In ruminants
however, dietary oxalic acid can be degraded by rumen microbes
into CO2 and formic acid. The amount of ant-nutrients in food crops
is highly variable and depends on factors including environmental
condition, use of high-phosphate fertilizers in cultivation and
genotypic variation.
General breeding strategies: Most cowpea breeders
employ backcross, pedigree, or bulk breeding methods to handle
segregating populations because cowpea is a self-pollinating
species and varieties are pure lines. Higher grain yields and
improved grain quality are the primary breeding objectives
of nearly all programs. In addition, most breeders seek to
incorporate a wide range of abiotic and biotic stress resistance/
tolerance characters. The constraints that direct individual
breeding programs at the local and national program levels
depend on the major diseases and pests encountered in their
target environments. The general strategy of most breeding
programs is to develop a range of high yielding cowpea varieties
adapted to different agro ecological zones that possess regionally
preferred traits for plant type, growth habit, days to maturity, and
How to cite this article: Tariku Simion. Breeding Cowpea Vignaunguiculata l. Walp for Quality Traits. Ann Rev Resear. 2018; 3(3): 555609.
Annals of Reviews and Research
seed type. In general, the focus is on the development of extraearly maturing (60-70 days) and medium maturing (75-90 days),
non-photosensitive lines with good grain quality and potential for
dual-purpose use (i.e., food and fodder), either for use as a sole
crop and as an intercrop in multiple cropping systems. Other
traits targeted include resistance to major diseases, insect pests,
and parasitic plants (S. gesnerioides and A. vogelii), tolerance to
drought, heat, acidity and low fertility, and seed types with high
protein content and low cooking time. For example, new extraearly cowpea varieties have been developed that have erect plant
type, early maturity and resistance to major pests, and are capable
of yields up to 2.5 tons ha−1 within 60 days compared to less than
1 ton/ha of the local varieties, which mature in 100 to 140days.
Similarly, a number of medium maturing, dual-purpose cowpea
varieties have been developed which yield over 2.5 tons ha−1 grain
and over 3.0tons ha−1 fodder in 75-80days. In recent years, over
40 improved cowpea varieties have been released in 60 countries
covering Africa, Asia, and Central and South America.
Breeding for improved nutritional quality: Cowpea is a
major source of protein, minerals, and vitamins in the daily diets of
the rural and urban masses in the tropics, particularly in West and
Central Africa where it complements the starchy food prepared
from cassava, yam, sorghum, millet, and maize. Systematic efforts
have just begun at IITA and a few other institutions to develop
improved cowpea varieties with enhanced levels of protein and
minerals combined with faster cooking and acceptable taste. Singh
screened 52 improved and local cowpea varieties to estimate
the extent of genetic variability for protein, fat, and minerals. On
a fresh weight basis (about 10% moisture), the protein content
ranged from 20 to 26% [38], fat content from 0.36 to 3.34%,
iron content from 56 to 95.8ppm, and manganese content from
5 to 18ppm. The improved cowpea varieties IT89KD-245,
IT89KD-288, and IT97K-499-35 had the highest protein content
(26%), whereas the local varieties like Kanannado, Bauchi early,
and Bausse local had the lowest protein content (21 to 22%). One
local variety, IAR 1696, had high protein content (24.78%) and
high fat content (3.28%), as well as high iron content (81.55ppm).
Similarly, an improved variety, IT95K-686-2, had high protein
content (25%), high fat content (3.3%), and high iron content
(76.50ppm). Appropriate crosses have been made to study the
inheritance of protein, fat, and iron contents and to initiate a
breeding program for improving these quality traits. The seed
hardness was positively correlated with calcium content (r= 0.70),
iron content (r=0.29), and zinc content (r=0.40). High amounts of
calcium, iron, and zinc are desirable from a nutritional standpoint.
However, they may increase the seed hardness and cooking time.
Soaking of the seeds before cooking reduces cooking time. Seed
hardness was positively correlated with cooking time. There have
been earlier reports on the extent of genetic variability for quality
traits in cowpea. [39] reported high methionine content in Tvu
2093 and Bush Sitao (3.24-3.4mg/g) dry seeds compared to 2.752.88mg/g seeds of the check variety, G-81-1. del. and observed the
highest trypsin inhibitor activity in winged bean and lima bean
005
and the lowest activity in mungbean and rice bean, whereas the
trypsin inhibitor values for cowpea were intermediate [40].
Summary
Cowpea is one of the most important food and forage legumes
in the semi-arid tropics that include parts of Asia, Africa, Southern
Europe, Southern United States, and Central and South America. It
is truly a multifunctional crop, providing food for man and livestock
and serving as a valuable and dependable revenue-generating
commodity for farmers and grain traders. A drought tolerant and
warm weather crop, cowpea is well adapted to the drier regions
of the tropics, where other food legumes do not perform well. It
also has the unique ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen through its
nodules, and it grows well even in poor soils with more than 85%
sand and with less than 0.2% organic matter and low levels of
phosphorus. Cowpea is equally important as nutritious fodder for
livestock, particularly in the dry savannas of West Africa. Cowpea
remains to a large extent an underexploited crop where relatively
large genetic gains can be made with only modest investments in
both applied plant breeding and molecular genetics. Because it
is grown mostly by poor farmers in developing countries it has
received relatively little attention from a research standpoint.
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How to cite this article: Tariku Simion. Breeding Cowpea Vignaunguiculata l. Walp for Quality Traits. Ann Rev Resear. 2018; 3(3): 555609.