Determination of agronomic properties of pods and seeds of local cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) populations

Cowpea widely cultivated and uses for several purposes among the Fabaceae family in the world. Farmer preferred local population has been used for cultivation and large number of population distributed through the Turkey, mainly in cultivated location. This study was conducted to determine the agronomic properties of local cowpea genotypes obtained from several location of Turkey. In this study, 44 different cowpea genotypes were examined for agromorphological properties of plant, leaf, pods and seed. The research underlined that large number of agromorphological diversity obtained from among the genotypes. The analysis of variation showed that some cowpea genotypes showed that particularly for high yield for fresh pods and seed yield comparing to the widely cultivated commercial cultivars, furthermore some genotype can be used as a genitor. Keywords: Plant genetic resources, pre-breeding studies, agronomic traits, agromorphological traits.