Generation Mean Analysis in Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] under Flower Thrips infestation

Two sets of six generations (P1, P2, F1, F2, BC1P1, BC1P2) of cowpea were developed from crosses of contrasting inbred lines VYA (susceptible) × SANZI (resistant) and LORI (susceptible) × SANZI (resistant). The aim of this study was to determine the inheritance and elucidate the genetic control of cowpea resistance to thrips. The first set (VYA × SANZI) was evaluated under natural thrips infestation in the field in a completely randomized block design with three replications. The second set (LORI × SANZI) was screened using artificial thrips infestation in the screen house. In each trial, data were recorded on 150 individual plants. These included the score of thrips damages using the scale of one to nine, number of thrips per flower, number of pods per plant, pod weight per plant and grain weight per plant. The generation mean analysis revealed that both additive and non-additive types of gene effects were significant. Dominance × dominance was the most predominant type of gene effects for thrips resistance, suggesting that breeders should delay selection to late generations to allow advancement of as many high-potential recombinants as possible during hybridization. The number of genes that control the expression of number of thrips per flower was three and ranged from three to four, for score of thrips damages. High broad sense and moderate narrow sense heritability were observed ranging from 0.53 to 0.65 and 0.14 to 0.36, respectively for all of the traits measured.