**Author details**

**6.4. Cowpea (***Vigna unguiculata* **(L.) Walpers)**

Tamil Nadu [24].

136 Forage Groups

cowpea breeding.

**7. Conclusion**

tropics.

Cowpea (2n = 2x = 22, genome size = 620 Mb) also known as 'black eye pea' or 'hungryseason crop' is an annual food and forage crop mostly grown throughout the semi-arid tropics in parts of Asia, Africa, Southern Europe, Southern United States, and Central and South America (Singh 2005). It can be grown throughout the year due to its short duration and fast growing nature. It is suitable for inter, mixed and relay cropping system. Cultivated cowpea, which is in subspecies *unguiculata*, is divided into five cultivar groups namely *Unguiculata*, *Sesquipedalis* (yard-long-bean), *Textilis*, *Biflora* and *Melanophthalmus* [75]. The commonly cultivated cowpea belongs to cultivar group *Unguiculata* the most widespread and economically important group of the species. They are pulse and vegetable and forage types. Other cultivar group *Biflora* also known as 'catjang cowpea' mainly cultivated in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka) as a pulse or as forage for hay and silage, and as a green manure crop. In Australia and Asia cowpea is primarily a fodder crop, but is also used for green manure or as a cover crop [76]. In India, the crop is cultivated around 6.5 lakh ha with 3 lakh as fodder crop in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and

Cowpea was first introduced to India 1000–1500 years ago and now Indian-subcontinent appears to be a secondary centre of diversity. In India a large numbers of varieties for vegetable, pulse and fodder purpose have been developed. The breeding objectives have focused around developing lines with terminal drought tolerance, early maturity, erect growth to fit in cropping systems and enabling improved radiation use efficiency, high harvest index and resistance to diseases. The desirable traits in forage cowpea varieties are leafiness with indeterminate growth to get green fodder for a longer period. International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has developed several dual purpose cultivars of cowpea with high grain and biomass yields and erects habit for intercropping/mixed farming purposes. In future development of cowpea lines against various forms of root-knot nematode, cowpea aphids and *Fusarium* wilt, is required. Further, development of transgenic cowpea lines with resistance to major insect pests can also be a breakthrough in

Tropical forage legumes were promoted in the past with the major focus on livestock production in India. This has led to a substantial decrease in research on tropical forage legumes. In view of current climate change problems and environmental concerns, research on forage legumes should be resumed with adequate funding support at national and international levels. Newer biotic and abiotic stress tolerant varieties should be developed for the changing environmental conditions. Forage legumes have potential to contribute significantly to environment-friendly agricultural land use and sustainable livestock production in the Tejveer Singh, Srinivasan Ramakrishnan\*, Sanat Kumar Mahanta, Vikas C. Tyagi and Ajoy Kumar Roy

\*Address all correspondence to: srinivasmic@gmail.com

ICAR-Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, India
