The harvested pods are shelled in a drum sheller and the yield of shelled peas is recorded. A Pixall One-Row Pull-Pix Harvester is used to harvest the center 2 rows of each plot. Five elite breeding lines of each pea type are evaluated annually in machine-harvested replicated trials. A 10-pod sample from each plot is used to record pod length, pod diameter, number of peas/pod, and weight of 100 peas. Yield information collected includes total weight of harvested pods, total weight of shelled peas, and percentage shell-out of peas. Each year ten to fifteen advanced breeding lines of each pea type are evaluated in hand-harvested replicated trials consisting of 20-ft plots. The lowest rated lines are discarded and acceptable lines are advanced a generation for further testing. Subjective breeder notes include observations and ratings on plant architecture, plant height, number of peduncles, peduncle length, number of pods, pod length, pod color, time of pod maturation, pod maturation concentration, pea color, pea size, and pea shape. Early generation breeding lines are evaluated in unreplicated single-row 10-ft field plots at the Red River Research Station, Bossier City, LA. Selection within F2 populations is conducted in the field for most horticultural traits. F1 seeds are planted in the greenhouse in the winter to produce the F2. Crosses are made in a greenhouse each fall. Project Methods Pedigree and backcross methods are being employed to achieve breeding objectives. Development of improved cowpea lines for deer forage is also anticipated. The expected outputs are the release of a new fresh market pinkeye, cream, and crowder cultivar resistant to both bacterial blight and root-knot nematode. Traits of importance include high biomass production, high protein content, and high digestibility. Develop cowpea cultivars for use as deer forage. Other attributes desired for fresh market southernpea cultivars include: uniform long, straight pods deep purple pod-color for pinkeye types kidney-shaped pinkeye and cream peas well-defined hilum ("eye") for pinkeye peas and light-green seed-coat color for mature fresh peas. Traits to be emphasized are determinate, bush plant type and concentrated pod maturation bacterial blight resistance and root-knot nematode resistance. Develop productive, disease-resistant pinkeye, cream and crowder southernpea cultivars for fresh market that are adapted to hand and machine harvest. Goals / Objectives The project objectives are: 1. A goal of this project is to develop additional cowpea cultivars for deer forage. The majority of cowpea seed planted for deer forage is a single cultivar - Iron Clay. Cowpea, as Vigna unguiculata is referred to as a forage or grain crop, is widely grown as a warm-season legume for deer forage. An objective of this project is to develop southernpea cultivars for fresh-market production that have a bush plant habit and are resistant to bacterial blight and root-knot nematode. It is important to incorporate resistance to these into new cultivars. There are no commercial southernpea cultivars with resistance to bacterial blight and few bush-type cultivars with resistance to root knot. Bacterial blight and root-knot nematodes can cause significant damage to southernpea crops. Disease and pest resistant cultivars provide growers with the potential for increased production. Producers would like to have a greater selection of bush-type cultivars for fresh market. Southernpea producers prefer a determinate bush plant for fresh market production since there are no vines to contend with during either hand or machine harvest. Southernpea cultivars traditionally have had a vining plant habit. Non Technical Summary Southernpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) is an important commercial vegetable crop in the southern U.S.
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