GENETIC ANALYSIS OF VEGETABLE COWPEA [VIGNA UNGUICULATA (L.) WALP.]

The present investigation on crop improvement of vegetable cowpea was conducted at Horticultural College and Research Institute, Periyakulam. Among the 24 crosses were made by Line x Tester analysis, 12 elite crosses were advanced to F-2 generation to identify the best segregants. Based on the evaluation of F-2 crosses, 6 elite crosses were advanced to F-3 generation. The genetic analysis of the F-2 and F-3 segregating generations was attempted by assessing the Pv, Gv, PCV, GCV, h(2) and genetic advance among the segregating populations of F-2 and F-3. The phenotypic variance and genotypic variance was found high in all the crosses. The cross L5T1 exhibited a high PCV, GCV, GA and h(2) for number of pods, pod yield, pod length and crude fibre content in both F-2 and F-3 generations. From the present study it was concluded that both additive and dominance variance control the expression of traits in breeding of vegetable cowpea.