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Posted 20 February 2011. Crop Management. Promising Results for Breeding Drought-Resistant Cowpea Research could mean greater production of worldwide food staple Source: Texas A&M University Press Release. aglifesciences.tamu.edu College Station, Texas (January 31, 2011)--Promising results from a crossbred cowpea variety has Texas AgriLife Research scientists hopeful that the drought-resistant trait will soon be available to producers.
Though commonly consumed as a food staple, the cowpea (commonly known as the black-eyed pea) has lots of potential to expand into the feedstock sector in both livestock and cropping systems, according to Dr. B.B. Singh, a visiting professor in the soil and crop sciences department at Texas A&M University. “Drought is one of the major constraints to agriculture across the world,” Singh said. “The breeders are trying to develop drought-tolerant varieties. Screening for this in the field is very difficult. What we’ve done is bring the drought inside the greenhouse and so far, we’ve seen some very favorable results.” “We’ve been working on this with the goal of understanding the physiology of drought tolerance so we can better breed for it,” said Dave Verbree, a doctoral student in plant breeding and physiology at Texas A&M. “We’re looking at how many genes are involved and breeding drought-tolerant lines that combine only the best traits for a given environment.” Verbree is using thermal imaging to assist in identifying the superior genotypes that will be used in the crossbreeding experiments, which are done through conventional methods of breeding. Singh came to the department as a visiting professor following his retirement three years ago from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Africa. He is working with colleagues Creighton Miller, D.C. Sheuring and Dr. Bill Payne, using field trials in College Station as part of research efforts. The team also is finding solutions to breeding cowpea varieties that are aphid resistant in addition to drought tolerant. Inside the greenhouse, small boxes with about 4 inches of soil contain test lines that were planted in mid-November. “Each were watered enough to germinate and grow,” Singh said. “After that, we don’t water them and watch response of each line to drought over time.” Sixteen varieties were planted on the same day, Singh said. Fifty days later and without any watering, the resistant varieties remained green and fully alive whereas the susceptible ones were completely dead with brown leaves and dried stems. Contact: |
