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Early generation selection for high yielding cowpea genotypes in additive series intercropping systems with sorghum
Author(s) -
Padi F.K.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
annals of applied biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1744-7348
pISSN - 0003-4746
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7348.2007.00179.x
Subject(s) - intercropping , biology , sorghum , cultivar , selection (genetic algorithm) , agronomy , yield (engineering) , grain yield , cropping , agriculture , ecology , materials science , artificial intelligence , metallurgy , computer science
Abstract Defining appropriate selection strategies for developing cowpea varieties adapted to additive series intercropping systems is an important requirement for cowpea breeders and producers in sub‐Saharan Africa. One hundred and forty‐three F 2:3 cowpea families and their subsequent 99 F 3:4 families derived from a cross between a sole bred cultivar, Apagbaala, and a traditional variety, SARC‐L02, were evaluated under additive series intercropping with sorghum. Intercropping imposed a strong selection pressure for days to flowering such that 31% of F 2:3 families that flowered after 50 days produced too few grains to permit their subsequent evaluation in the F 3:4 generation. Narrow‐sense heritabilities estimated by parent–offspring regression were high for 100 seed weight and days to flowering, moderate for biomass, low for grain yield and insignificant for branches/plant and pods/plant. Retrospective selection at 40% intensity based on F 3 grain yield recovered 5 of the 10 top yielding families in the F 4 . No significant difference was observed between mean grain yield of selected and rejected families (at the 40% selection intensity) as estimated by a t ‐test. Sole and intercrop yields produced by six advanced breeding lines included as controls showed poor correlation, and suggests selecting cultivars under the target cropping system will produce better selection response.