Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.)Walp.) (Fabaceae) Landrace Diversity in Southern Ethiopia
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Date
2015-06
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Addis Ababa Universty
Abstract
The present research has been carried out to identify and document the landrace diversity and
ethnobotanical uses of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) (Fabaceae) in three regions of
southern Ethiopia (Gambella, Oromia, Dire Dawa and SNNPR). Ethnobotanical data were
collected using semi-structured interview, field observations, guided field walk and market
survey. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, preference ranking and informant
consensus. A total of 44 accessions were collected from different geographical locations of south
of Addis Ababa. These landraces had diverse seed sizes, colors, growth habits and germination
potentials. Among the collections, Vigna unguiculata subspecies dekindtiana farmers variety
RAPO (Anywaa language) was found in Gambella Region), subspecies cylindrica and subspecies
unguiculata farmers’ variety ATERA BABILE (Afaan Oromo) found in all regions of southern
Ethiopia and grown for the purposes of human food, livestock feed, improving soil fertility and
as medicinal plant. Other collections, Vingna unguiculata subspecies unguiculata farmers’
variety ATERA BABILE was preferred by the majority of farmers’ because of its spreading nature,
ability to produce more leaves than other varieties, improving soil fertility and ability to
supersede weeds via ground covering. All in all ten landrace varieties were recorded from
southern Ethiopia in which four were recorded in SNNPR, three in Oromia three in Gambella
and one in Dire Dawa. As indicated by local farmers, wild relatives of cowpea still persist in
southern Ethiopia. Therefore, conducting further researches on both local landraces and wild
relatives of cowpea is recommended in this study.
Key words:- Landrace, Cowpea, Ethnobotany, Intercropping, Sole cropping
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Keywords
Landrace, Cowpea, Ethnobotany, Intercropping, Sole cropping