GENETIC VARIABILITY AND SELECTION OF EXTRA-EARLY COWPEA PROGENIES

Abstract

ABSTRACT The precocity of cowpea is important because it indicates the possibility of increasing and/or stabilizing production in regions with long periods of drought. The aim of this study was to evaluate genetic variability and select extra-early cowpea progenies. Fifteen F3:6 progenies were evaluated in 2014 while sixty-two F7 progenies were evaluated in 2015. Two commercial cultivars were used in experiments performed in the irrigated perimeter of Baixo Acaraú, in Marco, CE. The following characteristics were evaluated: number of days for flowering (NDF), number of days for maturity (NDM), plant height (PH), pod length (PL), number of seeds per pod (NSP), number of grains per plant (NGP), weight of 100 grains (W100G) and total weight (MTOT). Data were analyzed in lattice and RBD, according to the methodology of mixed models by the REML/BLUP procedure. Also, the components of variance and genetic values were estimated. Variability among progenies, high heritability and high accuracy were identified for all traits. For NDF and NDM, the progenies presented higher behavior than the controls. The lattice arrangement contributed to a greater gain with the selection of NDF, NDM, PH, NSP, NGP and WTOT. The genotypes 12, 15, 30, 33, 41, 43 and 52 are among the top ten because they have high genetic values in three or more traits. The genotypes 12, 15, 30, 33, 43 and 52 highlight extra-earliness (precocity).