The document summarizes the development of a new high-yielding cowpea line called ARS-1 by BRAC Agricultural Research & Development Centre. Testing showed ARS-1 had higher yields than the standard BARIfelon-1 variety, with seed yields 135.55% greater. ARS-1 also exhibited better plant vigor and flowering time, as well as increased numbers of pods and seeds per plant. Its characteristics make it well-suited for coastal regions and could help enhance cropping intensity where cowpea is an important pulse crop.

1. 1
Selection of a high yielding cow pea line from local germplasm
Sitesh. C. Biswas
Program Specialist, BRAC Agricultural Research & Development Centre (BARDC)
Joydebpur, Gazipur.
Cow pea is one of the popular leguminous pulse crop usually grown in the southern part of
Bangladesh; particularly in the districts of Chittagong, Feni, Bhola, Barishal, Patuakhali etc. and
each year near about 13000 metric tons of cowpea seeds are produced from 19,000 hectares of
land (BARI 2000). Cowpea plants are relatively hardy and can be successfully cultivated in
coastal areas and other marginal lands as well. Besides their seeds, young tender fruits can also
be consumed as vegetables. It requires very minimum investment for its cultivation and crop
management is also very simple due to its easy growing properties. In Bangladesh it can be
grown in 2 main seasons- one is September sowing (as Rabi crop) and the other is January
sowing (as Kharif-1 crop) although its cultivation in the Kharif season is popular. Since its tender
leaves and fruits can also be used as vegetable, there is an immense possibility of its utilization
as a vegetable item in the vegetable crisis season (mid January to mid April) of proteinaceous
fresh vegetable besides its use as a nice pulse crop. Moreover, cooked form of tender cowpea
fruits (Bhaji) is very delicious and the taste is almost similar to stir fried fresh yard long bean
fruits. It is also a nutritious food as well as it contains near about 27% protein in its seed. It
seems that there is a possible opportunity of utilizing cowpea seeds as a value added
confectionery product like roasted cow pea seeds as these are crispy, delicious and tasty. Again,
sowing it in the months of December- January, harvesting of this crop can be completed by the
month of April-May when other field crops like Aus paddy, jute etc. are sown. Therefore, after
harvesting of cowpea fruits the whole plant can be mixed with the soil to increase the soil
fertility by adding sufficient green manure to the soil. Moreover, since cowpea plants can tolerate
shading effects it can be grown as intercrop with maize.
Considering the importance of cowpea as a very good pulse crop as well as vegetables
(having also the potential of space farming) for the coastal regions and also for the plain land a
variety development program was launched at BRAC Agricultural Research & Development
Centre during the year 2010 and one promising advance line (ARS-1) have been developed from
the collected local germplasm (which was actually a mixture of brown, black and ash coloured
seeds) so far which exhibited its superiority over BARI released variety BARIfelon-1 (Table. 1
& Fig. 1). Comparative study between BRAC developed cow pea line ARS-1 and BARIfelon-1
has been given in table.1. In ARS-1 almost all the seeds germinated and better seedling
emergence was noticed in the newly developed line ARS-1. Compared to BARI variety BRAC

2. 2
developed line exhibited better plant vigour and its plant came into flowering 3 days earlier than
BARIfelon-1. Among the yield components BRAC developed line exhibited higher values than
BARIfelon-1 in almost all the characters except no. of branches per plant and days taken to
flowering. Also its final harvesting can be completed earlier than BARIfelon-1 and its seed yield
was recorded as 135.55% higher than BARI released cowpea variety.
Main characteristics of this particular advance line are:
1. High yielding line with excellent fruit bearing habit.
2. Robust type plants having well spreading bushy habit.
3. Plants mature at 72-73 days after sowing and its crop duration is 110-115 days.
4. Longer fruits with increased no. of seeds.
5. Ash coloured seeds with reddish hue.
6. Thousand seed wt. is around 124-134 gm.
7. Yield per hectare is near about 4- 4.5Mt.
8. Protein content is around 27-28 % in its seed.
Fig. 1. Plants of newly BRAC developed cow pea line ARS-1 in the field.

3. 3
Fig.2. Fruits of newly BRAC developed cow pea line ARS-1 in the field.
Fig.3. Seeds of newly BRAC Fig.4. Dehusked seeds of newly BRAC
developed cow pea line ARS-1 in the field. developed cow pea line ARS-1 in the field.

4. 4
Table.1. Evaluation of BARDC developed cowpea line using variety BARI felon-1 during
the early Kharif season of 2014-15.
Line/vari-
ety
Plant height
(cm)
No. of
branches/
plant
Days
taken to
1st
flower-
ing
Total no. of
pod
clusters/
plant
Total
no. of
pods/
plant
Pod
length
(cm)
No. of seeds/
pod
Seed yield/
plant
(gm)
Yield/
(Mt/ha)
ARS-1 53.70
(42-73)
3.90
(3.4-4.4)
72.00 8.00
(7.00-9.60)
12.30
(10.4-13.6)
16.40
(16.20-16.6)
18.30
(17.00-20.60)
23.50
(19.30-26.7)
4.24
BARI
felon-1
47.10
(44.40-48.60)
4.00
(3.8-4.4)
75.00 6.40
(5.80-6.80)
9.80
(8.20-11.60)
15.40
(15.30-15.60)
14.70
(14.20-15.20)
14.70
(12.30-16.60)
1.80
With the increasing demand of pulse seeds in Bangladesh and to enhance the cropping intensity
in the coastal regions definitely cow pea is a very suitable crop and as the traditional cowpea
varieties are low yielder and susceptible to diseases BRAC developed cow pea advance line
ARS-I will be more suitable for the growers with respect to yield and other characteristics.
References:
Razzaque, M. A, M. A. Sattar, M. S. Amin, M. A Qaium and M. S. Alam. 2000. Handbook
on Agro-technology (5th
edition), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur 1701,
Bangladesh. p. 104.
Address:
Dr. Sitesh Chandra Biswas
Progarm Specialist (Vegetable Research)
BRAC Agricultural Research & Development Centre
Jogitala, BRRI, Joydebpur, Gazipur-1701
Bangladesh
Phone: 9294207
Mobile:+88 01730349845
E-mail: sitesh.cb@brac.net
or, siteshchbiswas@yahoo.com
--------------------------------------------------- 0 ------------------------------------------------------------