GENETIC VARIABILITY AND CHARACTER ASSOCIATION STUDIES IN COWPEA IN EARLY AND LATE KHARIF SEASONS

The experiment was conducted using 14 genotypes of cowpea to study their yield performance, variability and correlation under dryland conditions during early and late kharif The results showed significant differences among the genotypes evaluated for all the characters. The four genotypes IT-38956-1, KBC-1, KBC-2 and TVX-944-02E have performed better during both the seasons, thus these genotypes are well fitted in double cropping system. Variability studies indicated that all the characters were predominantly governed by additive gene action during both the seasons; however the branches/plant during late kharif was the exception. Correlation studies revealed that seed yield was correlated positively with all the characters during early kharif, but during late kharif, it was correlated only with the plant height.