RECENT PROGRESS IN COWPEA BREEDING AT AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COUNCIL (ARC)-GRAIN CROP INSTITUTE, POTCHEFSTROOM, SOUTH AFRICA

Cowpea is one of the least researched crops in South Africa until recently. There were no crop improvement activities until three years ago when cowpea breeding was included as one of ARC’s research mandates. Considerable progress has been made in developing improved genotypes suitable for South African environment and market in the last three years in order to fill the gap and replace the old and pest-susceptible cultivars. The major breeding activities are to acquire more germplasm accessions in order to increase genetic diversity of South Africa’s cowpea genebank and develop more high-yielding genotypes with acceptable seed size and quality, develop cultivars tolerant to pests such as cowpea aphids, nematodes and virus as well as drought tolerance. Significant progress has been made in breeding cowpea cultivars with different maturity groups (early and medium maturity) dual-purpose and fodder types.