IAEA-CN-263-113

A decade of progress in cowpea genetic improvement using mutation breeding

in Zimbabwe
P. M. Matova1, O. Chipfunde2, C. Mukungurutse3, E. Gasura4, D. Kutywayo1, F. Sarsu5

1
Crop Breeding Institute (CBI), CY550 Causeway, Harare
2
Genetic and Biotechnology Research Institute, CY550 Causeway, Harare
3
Chemistry and Soils Research Institute, CY550 Causeway, Harare
4
University of Zimbabwe, MP167, Mount Pleasant, Harare
5
International Atomic Energy Agency, Plant Breeding and Genetics Section, Vienna
Corresponding author: matova_p@yahoo.com; prince.m.matova@gmail.com

Introduction

• Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata [L] Walp) is an important food, feed and cash crop grown in
Zimbabwe and sub Saharan Africa (SSA).
• SSA farming systems are characterised by low rainfall conditions, frequent droughts, low soil
fertility, pests and diseases and diverse socio-economic conditions.
• Cowpea is an essential component of SSA cropping systems; it is a low input crop with wide
adaptation and high resilience to environmental production constraints.
• The crop is highly nutritious - It is naturally endowed with high nutrient densities (protein, iron
and zinc).
• Despite the potential of this crop, productivity and utilisation still remains low due to low yields
(500kg ha-1), biotic and abiotic stresses and compromises on farmer preferences.
• In view of these various challenges, there is need to exploit mutation breeding to increase:
stress tolerance of the cowpea crop, its nutrient densities and farmer preferences; to ensure
food and nutritional security at household level.
• Mutation induction has the potential to produce new elite cowpea varieties with superior
production performance and stress tolerance resulting in higher yields.

Materials and Methods

• Seeds of a commercial cowpea variety CBC1 were irradiated with different doses of gamma rays
(150, 200, 250, 300 and 350 gy) in Vienna.
• In Zimbabwe, desirable mutants were selected and advanced through generations to M6 prior
to yield trials.
 • Multi-location trials were conducted across five agro-ecological zones of Zimbabwe since 2013.
• On-farm trials were run on 12 sites in five districts of Zimbabwe during 2016 and 2017 seasons
to determine on-farm field performance and farmer preference of the variety.
• Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was done with Genstat Version 18.0 (VSN International, 2016); 16
genotypes were evaluated at 14 environments (Table 1).
• Genotype plus genotype-by-environment interaction (GGE) biplot analysis was done to depict
the most ideal (high yielding and stable) cowpea genotypes.
• The Lin and Binns and Wricke’s ecovalence indices were used to determine the most superior,
adapted and stable cultivar (Wricke, 1965; Lin and Binns, 1988).

Results and Discussion

• General analysis of variance (ANOVA) for grain yield (kg/ha) of 16 cowpea genotypes evaluated
at 14 environments during 2013/14, 2014/15 & 2015/16 showed highly significant differences
(P<0.001) on genotypes, environments and GGE (Table 2).
• CM/150/M6-1 (CBC5) showed superior grain yield performance, 1518 kgha-1 with a yield
advantage of 24.6% over the parent CBC1 across sites and seasons (Table 2).
• The cultivar CBC5 was more adapted and stable across sites and seasons (16 environments) (Fig
2)
• Both the cultivar superiority index (Lin and Binns, 1988) and Wricke’s ecovalance stability
coefficients (Wricke, 1965) ranked CBC5 as best compared to CBC1 and CBC2.
• The grains of CBC5 are at least 8% and 13% larger than those of CBC1 (parent) and CBC2
respectively (Fig 3).
• Against the ten cultivars evaluated on-farm, CBC5 was ranked number three (Table 3).
• CBC5 was developed through mutation induction on CBC1 using gamma irradiation.
• Mutation induction has created more drought tolerant elite cowpea mutant lines in the
breeding pipeline (Figure 2).

Conclusions

Opportunities for developing desirable mutant cowpea varieties through gamma irradiation are high.
Gamma irradiation created CBC5, a mutant cultivar that is more superior to its parent CBC1. CBI/DR&SS
will release even better mutant cultivars in the near future.
Acknowledgements

Special thanks are given to the joint IAEA/FAO collaboration for their technical and financial support
which has greatly contributed to the success of the regional RAF projects. The following individuals are
greatly appreciated for their contributions: Dr F. Sarsu, Dr A. Grigoryan, Dr Pillar, Mr Thulouane, Mr B.
Munyaradzi, Mr C. Mangani and Dr. D. Kutywayo.

Pictures and Tables to insert in the Poster

a) For the introduction

Figure 1 (a) Old variety showing stunting and aphid infestation, (b) Farmers happy with the newly
released mutant variety CBC5

Rainfall (mm) Geographic position

Testing site Agro- Altitude Soil type 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 Latitude Longitude
ecological (m)
region

Harare 2a 1 506 Red clays 652.3 773.3 487.4 31o03’E 17o48’S

Gwebi VTC 2a 1 448 Red clays 803 655.5 638.5 30o32’E 17o41’S

Kadoma 2b 1 149 Red clays 669.4 619.4 - 29o53’E 18o19’S

Panmure 2b 881 Sandy loam - 777.7 - 31o47’E 17o35’S

Makoholi 4 1 204 Medium 830.1 538.5 - 30o47’E 19o50’S

 grain sand

Matopos 4 1 338 Black clays 670.7 344.8 344.8 28o28’E 20o24’S

Save-valley 5 450 Alluvial soils - - - 32°20`E 20°21`S

Chisumbanje 5 421 Black clays - - - 32o14’E 20o48’S

b) For Materials and Methods

Table 1 Description of testing sites for the multi-location trials

c) For results

Table 2 Mean grain yield in kilograms per hectare (kg/ha) for the candidate cultivar against
the commercial check cultivars across sites and seasons

Seasons and grain yield performance per season

Variety Variety name 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 Grain yield across sites and
code seasons trial means
2 CBC2 1 255 1 524cd 1 015a 1262ab
∑ d d
5 CM/150/M6-1 1 282 1 627 1 596 1 518c
10 CBC1 1 082 1 233ab 1 311bc 1 218ab
Trial mean 1 140 1 315 1 219 1 231
S.E.D 101.1 106.9 103.4 66.5
LSD (5%) 199.6 210.7 203.7 130.6
CV (%) 25.1 25.7 26.8 26.5
F-Pr 0.056 <.001 <0.001 <0.001
No. of sites 4 5 5 14
Figure 2 GGE biplot based on genotype focused scaling for comparison of CM/150/M6-1 to the
two standard checks with the imaginary ideal genotype for 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons
Figure 3 Weight of 100 seeds in grams per variety for CM/150/M6-1, CBC1 and CBC2 across
fourteen environments during 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons
Table 3 Selected varieties and total votes for each variety by gender per district and across the three districts during FPVS in Gwanda,
Matobo and Bulilima in 2015/16 season

# Name Number of farmers Total % Votes Rank

Scores 293 across
Matobo M F Ranks Gwanda M F Ranks Bulilima M F Rank
districts
68 72 153
1 C/87/6/13 14.7% 2 8 3 5.6% 0 4 7 12.4% 7 12 4 33 11.3 5
2 CBC1 7.4% 3 2 6 13.9% 2 8 3 6.5% 2 8 7 25 8.5 7
3 CM/200/M6-1 5.9% 1 3 7 5.6% 1 3 7 15.0% 5 17 3 31 10.6 6
4 CM/250/M6-7 5.9% 2 2 7 0.0% 0 0 10 2.6% 0 4 9 8 2.7 9
5 C/85/6/4 11.8% 4 4 5 22.2% 7 9 1 17.0% 4 22 2 50 17.1 1
6 CM/150/M6-2 0.0% 0 0 10 5.6% 1 3 7 0.0% 1 0 10 4 1.40 10
7 C/25/5/20 16.2% 4 7 2 6.9% 1 4 6 19.6% 2 28 1 46 15.7 2
8 CM/250/M6-6 1.5% 1 0 9 8.3% 3 3 5 5.2% 1 7 8 15 5.10 8
9 CBC2 22.1% 5 10 1 13.9% 2 8 3 9.8% 2 13 6 40 13.7 4
10 CM/150/M6-1 14.7% 5 5 3 18.1% 9 3 2 11.8% 0 18 5 41 13.9 3