Reaction of different cowpea genotypes to drought stress

Cowpea is the most important crop which is grown in tropical and subtropical regions. In this study, molecular and morphological characterizations of 32 cowpea genotypes were studied under drought stress condition. The indicator criterions associated with drought stress such as biological yield, 100 weight grain, number of seeds per pod, pods per plant and harvest index were examined under field conditions. The results showed that the genotypes of 7, 210, 291, and 313 along with the controls (Mashhad and Parasto) were identified as tolerant genotypes with the highest yield. Molecular analysis using 22 SSR primer pairs detected a total of 186 alleles and a genetic distance of 0.0066 between genotypes. The highest gene flow and PIC were detected for primers of vm68 (14.88) and vm25 (0.625) respectively. Analysis showed that the primers related to economic and biological yield in normal and drought conditions were Vm70, Vm33 and Vm3, Vm26 respectively. This research was meant for agricultural researchers, bio-technologists, farmers, agricultural students, and professors in agriculture who will certainly find it useful.