Author(s)

Sekou Armand Sanogo^1*, Sory Diallo^2*, Daniel Nyadanu¹, Téyioué Benoit Joseph Batieno³, Nerbéwendé Sawadogo⁴

¹Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana.
²Institut D’Economie Rurale (IER), Bamako, Mali.
³Institut de l’Environnement et de la Recherche Agricole (INERA Kamboinsé/CNRST), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
⁴Equipe Génétique et Amélioration des Plantes, Laboratoire Biosciences, Ecole Doctorale Sciences et Technologies, Université Joseph KI-ZERBO, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Cowpea [(Vigna unguiculata (L.)] is one of the most important arid legumes cultivated for pulse and forage production. However, in cowpea, not much is known about the base index selection method in breeding for drought tolerance. Consequently, the present study has been conducted to: 1) evaluate the yield performance of cowpea genotypes under artificial drought and well-watered condition; 2) develop a base index using multiple traits for ranking genotype performance. The experiment was a 25 × 2 factorial laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The experiment was carried out in the screen house at the Department of Horticulture at KNUST. The result showed that KPR1-96-73, Simbo, CZ06-4-16, Wilibaly and Agyenkwa were high yielding in well-water condition while Ghana Shoba, Sangaraka, NKetewade, Ghana-Shoni and Korobalen were high yielding genotypes in water stress condition. The average yield reduction was 60.6% for grain respectively. The biplot displays revealed four groups among the genotypes tested which was based on their yielding capacity and drought tolerance. In cluster B high yielding and drought tolerant genotypes were identified, high yielding and drought susceptible have been identified in cluster A, low yielding and drought tolerant in cluster D, and lastly low yielding and drought susceptible in cluster C. Genotypes in cluster B, were the best due to the fact that it combines high yield and tolerance to drought. They were Ghana Shoni, Nketewade, Sangaraka and Ghana shoba. These genotypes might be suitably employed in further drought tolerance breeding program of cowpea.

Cowpea [(Vigna unguiculata (L.)], Post Flowering Drought, Drought Tolerance Index

Sanogo, S. , Diallo, S. , Nyadanu, D. , Batieno, T. and Sawadogo, N. (2023) Selection of Cowpea [(Vigna unguiculata (L.) WALP] Genotypes for Drought Tolerance Using Selection Indices. Agricultural Sciences, 14, 384-397. doi: 10.4236/as.2023.143025.