Evaluation of Native and Exotic Cowpeas and Their Potential in the Southeastern USA.

Cowpea  (Vigna unguiculata L. [Walp]), also known as black-eyed or southern peas when dry, or alternatively known as purple-hulled and crowder peas when green, is a promising crop for Southeastern farmers and is also grown in many parts of Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and South to South-east Asia.  Related to the black-eyed peas are the yard long beans of the same species but vegetable type (Vigna unguiculata var. sesquipedilis) that are produced for their edible pods which are tasty fresh and tender or easy to cook in stir fry or by boiling.  Vegetable cowpeas are almost exclusively climbing types that require bamboo staking or trellises upon which to grow and produce their very long pods which measure up to 0.8 m in length being only a centimeter or two in width.  Dry cowpeas are bush in growth habit but tend to have long internodes and trailing stems.  In this study we evaluated over 700 American, African and Asian cultivars of the USDA core collection of Vigna unguiculata. The goal of the project was to develop a reference collection for association mapping of phenotypic traits.  Of the large number of accessions evaluated a total of 224 accessions of cowpeas and 32 accessions of yardlong beans with different seed types were selected and used in replicated trials in a second year.  The results of phenotypic analysis useful for association genetics will be reported.