Cowpea

Cowpea, Vigna unguiculata (L.), is diploid annual herbaceous legume crop known for its high protein content (18%–25%) which is equal to certain meat types. This crop is resilient to heat and drought stresses and therefore finds place in several cropping systems across the world. Vigna unguiculata unguiculata var. unguiculata and Vigna unguiculata unguiculata var. spontanea are its two botanical variants. The cultivated cowpea has five cultivar groups and ungiculata is the largest group which is further subdivided into 11 sub species complex. Cowpea production is affected by various biotic and abiotic stresses. The nature of inheritance of qualitative and quantitative characters has been studied intensively for genetic enhancement of cowpea. Resistant genotypes have been developed for drought, heat stress, aluminum toxicity tolerance, high seed protein content and resistance to aphids, flower thrips, pod borer, bruchids and disease resistance against cercospora leaf spot, bacterial blight, bean common mosaic virus and parasitic weeds. Several genetic markers associated with quantitative trait loci (QTL) related to drought response, maturity, pod characters, resistance to bacterial blight, leafs spot, thrips and striga have been reported. Numerous high yielding varieties have been released with desirable plant type, seed coat color and nutritional value for the betterment of farming community. Integration of classical breeding and marker assisted selection can be a viable program in the introgression of all the desirable gene combinations into a single cultivar towards the development of climate resilient cowpea varieties.