Genetic Divergance in F2 Generation of Interspecific Hybrids in Grain and Vegetable Purpose Cowpea

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted with 25 hybrids and their 14 parents of cowpea to study the diversity among the genotypes which were grouped in to 7 clusters revealing the presence of considerable diversity in the material. The clustering pattern of the varieties usually did not confirm to geographical distribution. Cluster-II got desirable rating in respect of maximum harvest index, seed yield per plant and minimum days to maturity where cluster V got maximum number of pods per plant, green pod yield per plant and dry pod yield per plant where all yield related components that could be directly tested in multilocation trials for their suitability or could be used as a donor parent in breeding programme. The characters like plant height, green pod yield per plant and dry pod yield per plant were found to contribute much to the total genetic divergence in cowpea.