Determination of Some Agronomic Traits and Their Correlation with Yield Components in Cowpea

Abstract

Cowpea is one of the vital grain legumes used for human and animal nutrition. Due to its rich protein content, cowpea supplies the protein requirement, especially in the African continent. Although cowpea is morphologically similar to common bean, it is a more tolerant species to heat and drought conditions. So, cowpea production has various advantages in semi-arid regions. The aim of this study was to determine some agronomic traits of used cowpea genotypes and evaluate their correlations with yield components. Plant height (PH), stem diameter (SD), leaf surface temperature (LST), total chlorophyll content (TCC), number of pods per plant (NP), number of seeds per plant (NS) and seed yield (SY) changed between 54.6-91.3 cm, 3.1-7.6 mm, 27.9-31.7 °C, 39-56.1%, 25.7-49.1, 307.5-684 and 646-2381 kg ha-, respectively. It is noteworthy that Karagöz produced the maximum SY compared to the other varieties. Besides, it was determined that SY has positive significant correlation with NS (r=0.98**), NP (r=0.96**), TCC (r=0.93**), SD (r=0.91**) and PH (r=0.86**).