Abstract

Cowpea aphid-born mosaic virus disease (CABMV) is one of the reasons for rejection of cowpea seed by seed inspectors in Burkina Faso. With regard to this, this study was undertaken to analyze the genetic components underlying the resistance of cowpea lines to the cowpea aphid-borne mosaic virus (CABMV) and to determine the mechanism of transmission of the resistance from parents to offspring. Therefore, crosses were made in 5x5 full diallel design. Data analysis was done following Griffing and Hayman method on disease severity and the area under disease progress curve (AUDPC) for five cowpea varieties during the 2015 off-season at Kamboinse research station. The analysis of variance associated with the general and specific combining abilities (GCA and SCA) and reciprocal effect (RCE) showed that the genetic variability was explained by additive effect. The F1 population showed that there was partial dominance and the narrow sense heritability for severity and AUDPC was high (60%). To improve cowpea for resistance to CABMV, rigorous choice of parents should be made before crosses and there was no maternal effect.

Key words: Cowpea, full diallel, severity, resistance, Cowpea aphid-born mosaic virus disease (CABMV), Burkina Faso.