STABILITY ANALYSIS OF YIELD AND NUTRITIONAL TRAITS IN COWPEA (VIGNA UNGUICULATA) ACROSS ENVIRONMENTS

Аннотация

INTRODUCTION Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), a drought-tolerant For sustainable cowpea production, it is essential legume, plays a critical role in the food security and to identify genotypes that exhibit stable nutrition of millions of people in tropical and performance in terms of both yield and nutritional subtropical regions. It is a valuable source of traits across varying environmental conditions. protein, vitamins, and minerals, and is grown as a Stable varieties can ensure consistent harvests and major crop for both human consumption and nutritional quality, which is especially important in livestock feed. However, cowpea productivity and regions prone to climatic variability. While several nutritional quality are highly influenced by studies have focused on enhancing the yield of environmental conditions, including variations in cowpea through genetic improvement, there is less temperature, rainfall, soil fertility, and emphasis on the stability of its nutritional traits, management practices. These environmental such as protein content and micronutrient levels, factors can cause significant genotype × which are critical for human health. environment (G × E) interactions, which may result This study aims to evaluate the stability of key yield in inconsistent performance across different and nutritional traits of cowpea across different growing seasons and regions. https://www.theamericanjournals.com/index.php/tajhfr 7 THE USA JOURNALS THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND FLORICULTURE RESEARCH (ISSN – 2689-0976) VOLUME 06 ISSUE11 environments. By assessing the interaction were sown at a uniform seed rate and row spacing, between genotypes and diverse agro-climatic ensuring that plant density remained constant conditions, the research seeks to identify high- across locations. Irrigation, fertilization, pest and yielding and nutritionally stable cowpea varieties. disease management, and other cultural practices The findings of this study are expected to were standardized to ensure that all genotypes had contribute to the development of improved cowpea the same growing conditions. The plots were varieties that are resilient to environmental managed according to local agricultural best stresses and offer consistent nutritional benefits, practices, adapted for each site, to ensure that the thereby supporting the long-term sustainability of cowpea plants were grown under optimal cowpea as a staple crop in vulnerable regions. conditions for each environment. METHOD The key data points collected in this study included both agronomic and nutritional traits. Agronomic Experimental Design and Location traits such as pod yield (kg/ha) and seed weight (g) The study was conducted over two consecutive were measured at maturity. Yield was recorded growing seasons across multiple environments from the central rows of each plot to avoid border with distinct agro-climatic conditions to evaluate effects, and seed weight was determined by the stability of yield and nutritional traits in weighing 100 seeds per genotype. Nutritional traits cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). Field trials were set focused on protein content, and mineral content, up in different regions known for their varying including iron, zinc, and calcium, were assessed at climatic conditions, including differences in harvest. Protein content was measured using the temperature, rainfall, and soil fertility, which can Kjeldahl method, and mineral content was significantly affect the performance of cowpea. The analyzed using atomic absorption spectroscopy trials were conducted in three locations: a semi- (AAS), a standard technique for determining the arid region, a tropical zone, and a subtropical concentration of micronutrients in plant samples. region, chosen to represent the diverse Genotype × Environment Interaction Analysis environments where cowpea is cultivated. The environmental conditions in these locations were To assess the stability of the cowpea genotypes selected based on their differences in temperature, across environments, a thorough statistical precipitation, and soil type, which are key factors analysis was conducted. The genotype × influencing the growth and productivity of cowpea. environment (G × E) interactions were evaluated to determine how different genotypes responded to The experimental design followed a Randomized the various environmental conditions. Analysis of Complete Block Design (RCBD), with three variance (ANOVA) was performed for each trait replications per genotype per environment. Each (yield, seed weight, protein, and micronutrients) to trial site was prepared with standardized assess the significance of genotype, environment, agronomic practices to reduce variation due to and G × E interactions. management differences. A total of 12 genetically diverse cowpea genotypes, representing a wide The combined analysis of variance was performed range of yield potential and nutritional qualities, across all three locations and tw