Genetic divergence in pole type vegetable cowpea

Sixty-three accessions of vegetable cowpea were evaluated for twelve quantitative characters including yield. High variability was observed for pod yield, pod weight, pods/plant, pod length, number of pickings and hundred seed weight. Number of pods/plant showed the highest positive correlation with yield. The genotypes were grouped into eight clusters with variable number of genotypes. Clustering pattern indicated no association between geographical distribution of accessions and genetic divergence. The characters like pod weight, pod yield, pods/plant and pod length contributed maximum to genetic divergence.