Abstract

Olasoji J.O., A.O Aluko1, R.A. Badmus and Olosunde A.A.

A study was carried out to investigate the relationships among leaching of electrolytes from seeds into steep water, germination and field emergence and performance on cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) genotypes. The experiment was conducted at the Institute of Agriculture, Moor Plantation, Ibadan using six (6) genotypes of cowpea. All laboratory tests were conducted using complete randomized design (CRD), replicated three (3) times with 50 seeds per replication, experimental design used on the field was Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). The results showed that significant differences existed (p<0.05) among the genotypes examined. With respects to germination percentage it ranged from 3.67% to 70.67%. Ife Brown had the highest germination percentage of 70.67 among the genotypes. it also appeared to have good seed quality and high seed yield of 566. 10kg. Coefficients of correlation between field emergence, seed yield and seed testing traits differed for all varieties; seed germination and seed vigor were positively correlated with field emergence. Result shows that seed conductivity test was negatively correlated with seed yield/ha. It was observed that poor seed quality, have greater effects on performance of plant on the field. Therefore, the results suggested that poor quality seeds will affect the field emergence which may affects the yield and agronomic performance of the crops.