Morphological characterization of cowpea local accessions seed of Vigna genero conserved at INIA-CENIAP Germplasm Bank

Abstract

The Vigna accessions are the basis for the development of improved cultivars intended for the production of food and other uses. The objective of this work was to morphologically characterize 314 local accessions of the genus Vigna preserved in the Unit of Conservation of  Plant  Genetic  Resources  of  INIA-CENIAP,  for a total of 299 accesions of Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp, 9 of V. radiata and 6 of V. umbellate, using morphological descriptors for cowpea seeds. From each accession,  three subsamples  of  100  seeds and one out of 10 seeds were randomly selected to estimate the average weight and characterization, respectively. Descriptive analyzes were performed on the  qualitative and quantitative characteristics. In order to classify the accessions, Cluster analysis was made using Euclidean distance, based on qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the seeds.  Predominant  seeds  with  rhomboid  (47%) and ovoid (44%) shape, smooth texture (69%) and intermediate brightness (51%).The color of the seeds, showed a greater proportion of orange-grayish tones (5) that include bay cowpeas. Seeds with the same color of the eye pattern characterized 91% of the accessions, with a predominance of tan color (69%) in bay cowpeas. The accessions had very small, small, intermediate, large and very large seeds, but the predominating size was the intermediate with the weight of 100 seeds in a range of 15.1 to 20 g. The accessions were distributed in nine groups, with the largest (72) number in group 5. Diversity was found that can be used in genetic improvement programs and other uses