The 5The 5thth

All Africa Conference on Animal All Africa Conference on Animal AgricultureAgriculture Commercialization of Livestock Agriculture in Africa: Challenges and opportunities October 25-28, 2010.

E.E. Grings1, M. Blümmel2, O. Boukar3, C. Fatokun4, S. Hearne4

International Livestock Research Institute 1Ibadan Nigeria,2Hyderabad, India

International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, 3Kano and 4Ibadan, Nigeria

YIELD AND NUTRITIVE QUALITY OF GENETICALLY DIVERSE COWPEA ACCESSIONS FOR USE AS

FOOD-FEED CROPS

COWPEA IS AN IMPORTANT FOOD-FEED CROP

THROUGHOUT SEMI-ARID TROPICS

COWPEA IS VALUED FOR ITS

DROUGHT TOLERANCE

ABILITY TO CONTRIBUTE TO SOIL FERTILITY

PRODUCTION OF ANIMAL FODDER

USE OF CEREAL RESIDUES ALONE

RESULTS IN INEFFICIENT LIVESTOCK

PRODUCTION

COWPEA HAULMS IMPROVE PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY THROUGH INCREASED INTAKE AND

DIGESTIBLITY

Fodder markets are expanding providing increased market pull for cowpea haulm production

Variety Milk Yield, ml/d

Control (no cowpea)

885.8

994-DP 1049.9

IT-716 1377.8

SED 74.6

From Akinlade, 2005

Variety ADG, g

Control (no cowpea)

36.4

Dan 11a 67.7

IT90K-277-2 76.4

SED 0.01

From Singh et al. 2003

Milk yield of Bunjul cows Growth of Yankassa rams

IMPROVED DUAL PURPOSE COWPEA VARIEITES HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO IMPROVE ANIMAL

PERFORMANCE

• Large number of animals

• Long feeding periods

• Large amount of feed

Requirements for in vivo feeding trails

Evaluation of large numbers of genotypes can be improved by rapid

testing methods

Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy (NIRS)

Advantages to NIRS

• Fast scanning time

• Multiple constituents on one sample

• Minimal sample preparation

• Non-destructive

• No harsh chemicals

COWPEA ACCESSIONS WERE

PLANTED IN MINJIBAR, NIGERIA,

JULY 2009

HARVESTED WHEN PLANT REACHED

95% POD MATURITY,

NOVEMBER 2009

REPRESENTATIVE 500 G SAMPLE OF FODDER BIOMASS WAS

COLLECTED, DRIED, GROUND

SHIPPED TO ILRI, HYDERABAD INDIA FOR NIRS ANALYSIS

MEANS, MAXIMIM AND MIMIMUM VALUES OF AGRONOMIC

CHARACTERISTICS FOR 157 COWPEA ACCESSIONS

MEAN SD MIN MAXSeed yield, kg/ha

574 303 28 1547

Fodder yield, kg/ha

2370 1303 585 7432

Days to first flowering

43 8 32 77

Days to 95% pod maturity

76 12 63 134

MEANS, MAXIMIM AND MIMIMUM VALUES OF NUTRITIONAL QUALITY

FOR 157 COWPEA ACCESSIONS

MEAN SD MIN MAX

N, % DM 1.76 0.30 0.97 2.42

NDF, % DM 61.0 2.93 52.4 67.0

ADF, % DM 45.4 3.2 38.2 55.1

ADL, %DM 7.5 0.7 5.8 9.4

IVOMD, % 58.1 1.5 53.8 62.1

ME, MJ/kg 8.46 0.25 7.82 9.37

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

0 500 1000 1500 2000

Seed Yield, kg/ha

Fo

dd

er

Yie

ld,

kg/h

a

erect

prostrate

Fodder and seed yield of 157 cowpea accessions grown near Kano, Nigeria

r = 0.27, P = 0.0007

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

0 500 1000 1500 2000

Seed Yield, kg/ha

Hau

lm N

, %

erect

prostrate

r = -0.41, P < 0.0001

Haulm N and seed yield of 157 cowpea accessions grown near Kano, Nigeria

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

0 50 100 150

Days to 95% pod maturity

Fo

dd

er

Yie

ld,

kg

/ha

erect

prostrate

Fodder yield and days to 95% pod maturity of 157 cowpea accessions grown near Kano,

Nigeria

r = 0.24, P < 0.0028

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

0 500 1000 1500 2000

Seed Yield, kg/ha

Fo

dd

er

Yie

ld,

kg

/ha

TVU-7155

TVU-408

TVU-393

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

Days to 95% pod maturity

N,

% o

f D

M

7.6

7.8

8.0

8.2

8.4

8.6

8.8

9.0

9.2

9.4

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

Days to 95% pod maturity

ME

, M

J/kg

CONCLUSION• PHENOTYPIC VARIATION EXISTS FOR

DEVELOPMENT OF IMPROVED DUAL PURPOSE COWPEA

• NIRS IS A RAPID METHOD TO AID IN SELECTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF IMPROVED DUAL-PURPOSE COWPEA

The 5The 5thth

All Africa Conference on Animal All Africa Conference on Animal AgricultureAgriculture Commercialization of Livestock Agriculture in Africa: Challenges and opportunities October 25-28, 2010.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!