title: Genetic divergence among African cowpea lines based on morphoagronomic traits.
abstract: The aim of this study was to estimate the genetic divergence between African cowpea lines from the Cowpea Germplasm Bank of Embrapa Meio-Norte, Brazil. The morphoagronomic diversity of 57 cowpea lines was assessed using multivariate analysis. The germplasm was evaluated in August 2009 using a randomized block design with three replications based on the following traits: number of pods per peduncle, pod length (PL), number of grains per pod (NGP), grain length (GRL), grain width, 100-grain weight (W100G), and yield. The heritability values of the traits PL, NGP, GRL, and W100G were all higher than 70%, indicating the possibility of genetic progress with selection. The crosses between the lines IT82D-889 and IT89KD-245, IT85F-1380 and IT89KD-245, and IT89KD-245 and IT98K-1092-1 could result in promising genetic combinations. The characteristics that contributed most to genetic divergence were W100G (49.7%), PL (16.7%), GRL (12.0%), and NGP (9.7%).
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Agronomia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Recife, PE, Brasil.
authors.forename: E M R
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Damasceno-Silva
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Rocha
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Medeiros
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Anunciação Filho
mesh_terms: D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000235:genetics*; D007887:Fabaceae / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable