International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria and National Grain Legume Research Program, Crops Development Division, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
*Present address: Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, California 92521 U S.A.
A breeding program was carried out in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) to incorporate resistance to cowpea aphid-borne mosaic, cowpea mosaic, bacterial blight and bacterial pustule diseases in otherwise high yielding and widely adapted cultivars found promising in multilocation trials in Tanzania. Segregating progenies from over 350 two-way, three-way, four-way crosses and back-crosses were subjected to sequential inoculations with pathogens of these diseases under field conditions. Progenies of single plant selections made in each generation were simultaneously screened in pothouse, and those combining resistance and good agronomic characters at F5 stage were yield evaluated during 1979.
