Agronomic performance and quality of seeds of cowpea cultivar in the brazilian “cerrado” region

Abstract

The productivities of cowpea are low, depending on the use of low productivity capacity cultivar planted, associated with the use of low-quality seeds. The objective of this work was to evaluate the agronomic characteristics and physiological quality in seed lots of different cultivar of cowpea in the "Cerrado", Goiás State, Brazil. The experimental design was a complete block with four replicates. The treatments were eight cultivar of cowpea (BRS Guariba, BRS 17 Gurguéia, BRS Rouxinol, BRS Marataoã, Patativa, BRS Tracuateua, BRS Milênio e CE 315), recommended for the North and Northeast regions of Brazil. The effects of the treatments were considerable for all the characteristics assessed. The cultivar BRS Guariba, BRS 17 Gurguéia and BRS Marataoã, presented less intense powdery mildew symptoms. The cultivar presenting higher yield were BRS Guariba and BRS Gurguéia, with 2,211 and 2,196 kg ha^-1 of grain, respectively. The results showed that physiological seed quality influenced productivity of the cultivar. The cultivar BRS CE 315, BRS Gurguéia, BRS Rouxinol, BRS Marataoã and Patativa, with colored hull, produced seeds of better physiological quality compared, to the cultivar of white hull BRS Tracuateua, BRS Milênio and BRS Guariba.