Study of Genotypic and Phenotypic Correlation among 20 Accessions of Nigerian Cowpea

Morphological techniques were used to evaluate the diversity in 20 cowpea accessions collected from some parts of Nigeria for two years (2007 and 2008) at Ibadan, South Western Nigeria. Correlation analysis was employed to show the relationships among the traits. Similarly, genotypic and phenotypic variances, genotypic coefficients of variation, heritability and expected genetic advance were estimated for the twelve traits in cowpea for each season. This study shows that for cowpea yield improvement, number of main branches, pod numbers, pods per plant, pods per peduncle and seeds per pod should be part of the selection criteria.