S.A. OGEDEGBE

This study was carried out to evaluate the seed yield of cowpea varieties grown in a screen house in Benin City, Edo state. The study was conducted at the Faculty of Agriculture Research and Experimental Farm, University of Benin, Benin city. Nine (9) cowpea varieties were collected from the Institute for Agriculture Research (IAR), Samaru Zaria and two (2) from an open market on Benin City. The experiment was laid in a completely randomized design (CRD) with eleven treatments and three replications. Data on pod length, number of seeds, total number of pods, weight of seeds and pod weight were collected. The data collected were analyzed using SAS version 9.0. Pod length was highest (13.54) in S19 and lowest in 1.1. There were significant differences among all the cowpea varieties for the measured variable except number of seeds. However, several varieties were statistically equal in performance for all the variables. Samaru varieties were better than the open market varieties in all cases hence it is
recommended to sow with samaru varieties.

Cowpea is an important source of food, income and livestock feed. It has ability to improve marginal lands through nitrogen fixation and as a cover crop can protect against soil erosion. It is extensively cultivated under rain fed conditions mainly in the savanna zone of Nigeria. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance
of eleven cowpea varieties in an open field at UNIBEN. Nine cultivars and two local varieties were used for the experiment. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized complete block design (RCBD) with eleven treatments and three replications. The growth variables evaluated were leaf length, leaf width, leaf area, plant height, number
of leaves per plant. Two variables were significantly different depending on variety. In the case of leaf width Samaru 14 produced the significant widest leaf width compared to the other varieties, whereas in the case of leaf area Samaru 15 produced the significantly wildest leaf area compared to the other varieties. Samaru 14 did best in leaf width whereas Samaru 15 did best in leaf area among the other varieties evaluated.