Research Article
High-Density DArT Markers and Phenotypic Characterization of
Cowpea Accessions (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp)
B. G. Adu ,
1
R. Adu Amoah ,
1
L. M. Aboagye,
1
M. G. Abdoul Aziz,
2
and R. Boampong
1
1
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research - Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute, Bunso, Ghana
2
Department of Civil Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
Correspondence should be addressed to B. G. Adu; bg.adu@csir.org.gh
Received 25 April 2021; Accepted 12 October 2021; Published 25 October 2021
Academic Editor: Othmane Merah
Copyright © 2021 B. G. Adu et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) is an important component of most traditional cropping systems in the tropics. It provides
leafy vegetables and/or grains and forages and acts as a cover crop. We characterized 16 cowpea accession collections in Ghana using
agromorphological traits and high-density silicoDArT markers for breeding and efficient conservational purposes. Principal
component analysis indicated pod, leaf, and seed characters such as pod length, seeds per pod, terminal leaves shape, number of
leaves, hundred seed weight, and seed weight per plant as discriminatory traits in revealing the variation among the accessions. Trait
associationanalysisrevealedasignificantcorrelationbetweenthepodnumber,podlength,seedsperpod,numberofleaves,andseed
weight per plant that could allow the selection to improve the grain yield. Moderate to high broad-sense heritability and genetic
advance observed for most of the traits indicate that the selection would result in foreseeable genetic improvement. e 9,706
silicoDArTmarkers used in the study were able to reveal genetic variation among the tested cowpea collections. Accessions GH5039
and GH6056 were established as duplicates based on the silicoDArTmarkers, which could enhance efficient germplasm utilization
and conservation. Accessions GH3685, GH3674, and GH4541 were identified for high leaf and pod production and high seed yield
perplant,whichcouldbegoodcandidatesfordualpurposecowpeaproduction,whichiscommoninthesubsistencefarmingsystem.
1. Introduction
Cowpea is an economically important indigenous African
legume crop and a major source of plant proteins, vitamins
[1, 2], animal fodder [3], and is of considerable importance in
humannutritioninthesemiaridandtropicalregionsofAfrica
[4].Cowpeaisalsowelladaptedtothesemiaridregionsofthe
tropics where other food legumes do not perform well due to
its ability to tolerate drought and high temperature. It per-
forms well even in poor soils and has the unique ability to fix
atmospheric nitrogen [5]. e young leaves, green pods, and
green seeds are used as vegetables, whereas dry seeds are used
in a variety of food preparations [6]. Collectively, these
characteristicshavemadecowpeaanimportantcomponentof
subsistence agriculture, particularly in the dry savannas of
sub-Saharan Africa, which has brought about the importance
of developing “dual purpose” cowpea varieties with the ability
to produce high seed and leaf yield [7].
InGhana,PlantGeneticResourceandResearchInstitute
ofGhana(PGRRI),asubsidiaryofCouncilforScientificand
Industrial Research (CSIR) with several collections of
cowpea accessions in conservation has the mandate to
collect, characterize, evaluate, document, conserve, dis-
tribute, and utilize plant genetic resources. ese activities
are fundamental, following continues threat of plant genetic
resourcesthroughhumanactivitiesandnaturaldisasters[8].
Knowledge about the diversity or variation in a given
germplasm forms the basis for breeding, efficient manage-
ment, and conservation. Prebreeding activities, such as
characterization and evaluation, enhance genetic resource
conservation and promote the identification of favorable
alleles of genes related to important agronomic traits in the
germplasm for subsequent incorporation into crop im-
provement programmes [9].
e characterization of germplasm can be achieved
through morphological and molecular markers. Observed
Hindawi
Advances in Agriculture
Volume 2021, Article ID 6336684, 12 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6336684