Genetic divergence in cowpea (Vigna spp.) varieties for seed quality.

An investigation was carried out with seeds of ten cowpea varieties to study the genetic divergence of the varieties with respect to storability and seed quality parameters. The seeds were evaluated for four seed quality parameters viz., germination, speed of germination, seedling vigour index I and seedling vigour index II and diversity was assessed using Mahalanobis D² analysis after ten months of storage under ambient conditions. There was significant variation for the quality aspects related to storage.Variety Kashi Kanchan had a germination of 61.67 per cent after ten months of storage. On the basis of D² values the genotypes were grouped into four clusters. Cluster I was the largest containing four varieties (Lola, Vellayani Jyothika, Vyjayanthi and Anaswara). The maximum inter-cluster distance was recorded between clusters I and IV (Hridya and Bhagyalakshmi). The maximum intra-cluster distance was found in cluster IV followed by I. Varieties Kanakamony and Kashi Kanchan grouped in cluster II and Kairali and Sreya in cluster III.