Crop Type: Garden Crop
Breeding system: Predominantly autogamous
Cowpea (V. unguiculata subsp. unguiculata cultivar group (cv-gr.) unguiculata (L.) Walp.) is the phaseolus that was grown by the Romans (Plinius; Apicius). It is an important grain legume grown throughout the tropics and subtropics, including Asia, Africa, Central and South America, as well as in parts of southern Europe and the United States. Domesticated in the sub-Saharan area during the second millennium B.C., cowpea was certainly cultivated by the Greeks in the third century B.C. and by the Romans in the first century A.D. based on the writings of Theophrastus and Plinius (Chevalier 1944; Burkhill 1953; Purseglove 1976). The plant could have been introduced well before that since trade in the Mediterranean area has been intensive since pre-historic times. In Italy, cowpea cultivation is now restricted to a very limited acreage and is mostly based on LRs. Both V. unguiculata subsp. unguiculata cv-gr. unguiculata and cv-gr sesquipedalis (Maréchal et al. 1978) are cultivated for seed and fresh pods (French beans), respectively.
It is a prevalent autogamous crop with outcrossing rates varying according to different agronomic and environmental conditions that can favour or not pollinators. The rate of outcrossing is generally lower than 4%.
The common bean is a predominantly self-pollinating plant, with occasional occurrence of insect-mediated cross-pollination.
References- Burkhill I (1953) Habits of man and the origins of the cultivated plants of the Old World. ournal Proc Linn Soc Bot 12–42.
- Chevalier A (1944) La dolique de Chine en Afrique. Rev Int Bot Appl d’Agriculture Trop 128–152.
- Maréchal R, Mascherpa JM, Stainier F (1978) Etude taxonomique d’un groupe complexe d’especes des gen- res Phaseolus et Vigna (Papilionaceae) sur la base de donnes morphologiques et polliniques, traitees par l’analyse informatique. Boissiera 1–273.
- Polegri L, Negri V (2010) Molecular markers for promoting agro-biodiversity conservation: A case study from Italy. How cowpea landraces were saved from extinction. Genet Resour Crop Evol 57:867–880. doi: 10.1007/s10722-009-9526-z
- Purseglove JW (1976) The origins and migrations of crops in tropical Africa. In: , (eds) . , pp. In: Harlan JR, de Wet JM (eds) Origins of African plant domestication, Stemler AB. The Hague, Mouton, pp 291–310