INTRODUCTION

The cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is an annual herbaceous legume from the genus Vigna.
Due to its tolerance for sandy soil and low rainfall it is an important crop in the semi-arid regions
across Africa and other countries. It requires very few inputs, as the plant's root nodules are able
to fix atmospheric nitrogen, making it a valuable crop for resource-poor farmers and well-suited
to intercropping with other crops. The whole plant is used as forage for animals, with its use as
cattle feed likely responsible for its name.

Four subspecies of cowpea are recognised, of which three are cultivated. There is a high
level of morphological diversity found within the species with large variations in the size, shape and
structure of the plant. Cowpeas can be erect, semi-erect (trailing) or climbing. The crop is mainly
grown for its seeds, which are extremely high in protein, although the leaves and immature seed
pods can also be consumed.

Cultivated cowpeas are known by the common names black-eyed pea, southern pea, yard
long bean, cat jang, and crowder pea. They were domesticated in Africa and are one of the oldest
crops to be farmed. A second domestication event probably occurred in Asia, before they spread
into Europe and the Americas. The seeds are usually cooked and made into stews and curries, or
ground into flour or paste.

Most cowpeas are grown on the African continent, particularly in Nigeria and Niger which
account for 66% of world production. A 1997 estimate suggests that cowpeas are cultivated on
12.5 million hectares (31 million acres), have a worldwide production of 3 million tons and are
consumed by 200 million people on a daily basis. Insect infestation is a major constraint to the
production of cowpea, sometimes causing losses of over 90% loss in yield. The legume pod
borer Maruca vitrata is the main pre-harvest pest of the cowpea and the cowpea
weevil Callosobruchus maculatus the main post-harvest pest.

Cowpea is susceptible to nematode, fungal, bacterial and virus diseases, which can result
in substantial loss in yield. Common diseases include blights, root rot, wilt, powdery mildew, root
knot, rust and leaf spot. The plant is susceptible to mosaic viruses, which cause a green mosaic
pattern to appear in the leaves.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Week 1 (March 15)

The number of insects and damages in the plants was taken and analysed and the result is
presented in Table 1. As revealed in the table, the plants in Plot 3 are fewer than the other plots
but it obtained the highest number of insects and damages with a total of 52 damages and 45
insects followed by Plot 1 with a total of 47 damages and 13 insects and Plot 2 with only 2 insects
and 5 damages.

Table 1.Data Gathered.

PLOT 1 PLOT 2 PLOT 3

Plant no. damage No. of Damage No. of Damage No. of
insects insects insects
1 5 1 0 1 5 3
2 6 1 0 1 6 2
3 1 2 0 0 8 5
4 0 0 0 0 9 3
5 0 0 0 0 5 8
6 2 0 1 0 5 9
7 6 1 0 0 6 10
8 5 1 0 0 8 5
9 4 3 0 0
11 5 1 1 0
12 5 2 1 0
13 5 3 2 0
TOTAL 47 14 5 2 52 45
Week 2 (March 22)

Based on what is presented in Table 2, the Plot 3 still have the highest number of damages
and number of insects with 52 damages and 49 insects followed by Plot 1 with 48 damages and 35
insects and plot 2 with 10 damages and 5 insects.

Table 2.Data Gathered

PLOT 1 PLOT 2 PLOT 3

Plant no. Damages No. of Damages No. of Damages No. of
insects insects insects
1 7 3 0 1 6 3
2 8 3 0 1 8 3
3 3 3 1 1 8 3
4 1 1 0 0 10 6
5 1 1 1 0 7 4
6 2 2 1 0 7 9
7 8 2 0 0 6 10
8 6 3 0 1 0 7
9 6 3 1 1
10 5 4 1 0
11 0 3 1 0
12 1 4 2 0
13 0 5 2 0
TOTAL 48 35 10 5 52 49
Week 3 (March 29)

As reflected in Table 3, Plot 3 obtained the highest number of damages and insects with 68
damages and 51 insects followed by Plot 1 with 56 damages and 46 insects and Plot 2 with 12
damages and 9 insects.

Table 3.Data Gathered

PLOT 1 PLOT 2 PLOT 3

Plant no. Damages No. of Damages No. of Damages No. of
insects insects insects
1 9 4 0 1 7 3
2 9 4 0 1 9 3
3 5 4 1 1 9 6
4 2 2 0 0 11 3
5 2 2 1 0 8 9
6 2 3 1 0 8 9
7 2 3 0 1 7 11
8 8 4 1 0 9 7
9 6 3 1 0
10 6 4 1 0
11 5 4 1 0
12 0 3 3 5
13 1 6 2 0
TOTAL 56 46 12 9 68 51
Week 4 (April 5)

Table 4 shows that in Week 4 of the plants, Plot 1 obtained the highest number of damages
which is 54 and 39 insects followed by Plot 3 with 48 damages and 39 insects and Plot 2 with 14
damages and 5 insects.

Table 4.Data Gathered

PLOT 1 PLOT 2 PLOT 3

Plant no. Damages No. of Damages No. of Damages No. of
insects insects insects
1 10 3 0 0 1 3
2 9 3 0 1 9 2
3 5 4 1 1 9 5
4 2 2 1 1 11 3
5 2 1 1 0 8 6
6 2 2 1 0 8 6
7 2 3 0 0 7 7
8 8 3 1 0 9 7
9 6 3 1 1
10 5 4 1 0
11 1 3 1 0
12 1 3 3 1
13 1 5 3 0
TOTAL 54 39 14 5 48 39
Week 5 (April 12)

On the fifth week, Plot 3 with 73 diseases and 45 insects followed by Plot 1 with 63
diseases and 52 insects and Plot 2 with 17 diseases and 5 insects.

Table 5.Data Gathered

PLOT 1 PLOT 2 PLOT 3

Plant no. Damages No. of Damages No. of Damages No. of
insects insects insects
1 11 4 0 1 8 3
2 10 4 1 1 10 2
3 7 4 1 0 10 5
4 3 2 1 0 11 3
5 3 2 1 0 9 7
6 4 3 1 1 8 8
7 3 4 0 1 8 8
8 8 4 1 0 9 9
9 6 3 2 0
10 5 5 1 0
11 1 4 2 0
12 1 3 3 0
13 1 6 3 1
TOTAL 63 52 17 5 73 45
Week 6 (April 19)

Table 6 reveals that Plot 1 obtained the highest with 67 damages and 54 insects followed
by Plot 3 with 66 damages and 32 insects and Plot 2 with 23 damages and 6 insects.

Table 6.Data Gathered

PLOT 1 PLOT 2 PLOT 3

Plant no. Damages No. of Damages No. of Damages No. of
insects insects insects
1 11 4 1 1 8 3
2 11 4 1 1 10 2
3 8 4 1 0 10 4
4 3 2 2 0 11 3
5 3 2 2 0 10 5
6 5 4 1 1 9 5
7 3 5 1 1 8 5
8 8 4 2 0 10 5
9 6 3 2 0
10 5 5 1 0
11 2 4 2 0
12 1 3 3 1
13 1 6 4 1
TOTAL 67 54 23 6 66 32
Week 7 (April 26)

Table 7 shows that Plot 1 obtained the highest with 67 damages and 52 insects followed by
Plot 3 with 66 damages and 20 insects Plot 2 with 26 damages and 7 insects.

Table 7.Data Gathered

PLOT 1 PLOT 2 PLOT 3

Plant no. Damages No. of Damages No. of Damages No. of
insects insects insects
1 11 4 2 1 8 2
2 11 4 1 0 10 1
3 8 4 1 0 10 2
4 3 2 2 0 11 2
5 3 2 2 1 10 3
6 5 3 1 1 9 3
7 3 5 1 0 8 2
8 8 4 2 0 10 5
9 6 3 2 0
10 5 5 2 0
11 2 3 2 0
12 1 3 3 1
13 1 6 5 3
TOTAL 67 52 26 7 66 20
Week 8 (May 3)

The last week of gathering of data. Table 8 shows that Plot 1 had the highest number of
damages with 73 and 65 insects followed by Plot 3 with 72 damages and 27 insects and Plot 2
with 31 damages and 16 insects.

Table 8.Data Gathered

PLOT 1 PLOT 2 PLOT 3

Plant no. Damages No. of Damages No. of Damages No. of
insects insects insects
1 12 4 2 3 9 3
2 11 4 3 2 10 2
3 9 5 2 1 11 1
4 4 3 2 3 12 2
5 3 6 2 3 11 4
6 5 5 1 0 9 7
7 4 7 1 0 9 3
8 8 5 2 0 11 5
9 6 3 3 0
10 5 7 3 1
11 2 5 2 3
12 2 4 3 0
13 2 7 5 0
TOTAL 73 65 31 16 72 27
 The figure below shows that Plot 3 obtained the highest number of damages with an
average of 62.13 followed by Plot 1 with 59.38 and Plot 2 with 17.25. While in the number of
insects Plot 1 obtained the highest with an average of 44.63 followed by Plot 3 with 38.5 and Plot 2
with 6.88 insects.

Figure 1.Average number of Damages and Insect

70

60

50

40
Damages
No. of insect
30

20

10

0
Plot 1 Plot 2 Plot 3

Kilos of Harvested crops per treatment

 Plot 1- 119 grams

 Plot 2- 814 grams
 Plot 3- 156 grams

Based on the kilos of the harvested cowpea, it shows that Plot 2 produced more than the other
Plots.
Documentation
References (Cited Literature)

C.M.Tompkins; M.W Gardner Relation of temperature to infection of bean and cowpea seedlings
by Rhizoctonia bataticola

Chavez, N., Teodosio, N.R., Gomez de Matos, A. et al. (1952) The proteins of cowpea (Vigna
sinensis) in nutrition. Rev. Brasil. Med., 9, 603–10.

Elias, L.G, Colindres, R. and Bressani, R. (1964). The nutritive value of eight varieties of cowpea
(Vigna sinensis). J. Food Sci, 29, 118–22.

Fashakin, J.B. and Ojo, F.A. (1988a) Chemical composition and nutritive changes of some
improved varieties of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). 1. Some selected varieties from the UTA.
Ibadan, Nigeria. Trop. Sci., 28, 111–18.

Nnanna, I.A. and Phillips, R.D. (1989) Amino acid composition, protein quality and water-soluble
vitamin content of germinated cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). Plant Foods Hum. Nutr., 39, 187–
200.