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A SNP-based association analysis for plant growth habit in worldwide cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) Germplasm

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Abstract

Cowpea is a legume widely grown in Africa, North, Central and South America, and Asia. The cowpea plant growth habits consist of erect, semi-prostrate, and prostrate types. Developing a cultivar while considering plant growth habit is essential within a breeding program since the need for a particular growth habit is region-specific, and significantly depends on the end user preference. Some cowpea growers might prefer erect types over semi-prostrate and prostrate types, while others would chose prostrate types, which provide more leaves for feed supplies to livestock. However, very little is known regarding the genetics of plant growth habit in cowpea to assist plant breeders in developing suitable cowpea cultivars having the desired growth habit plus the other required features. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to conduct an association mapping for cowpea growth habit, and to identify SNP markers associated with this trait. A total of 487 cowpea genotypes were evaluated for growth habit and a total of 1031 SNPs postulated from genotyping-by-sequencing to conduct association analysis study for cowpea growth habit. Our results showed that: (1) significant differences in cowpea growth habit were identified between countries, (2) the cowpea erect-type was prevalent, and (3) ten SNP markers, C35060651_729, C35061339_799, C35062457_1855, C35072764_1384, C35080248_2355, Scaffold2771_4351, Scaffold29522_3213, Scaffold35913_2678, Scaffold53560_188, and Scaffold58098_4297, were significantly associated with cowpea growth habit. These results could be used for enhancing marker-assisted selection (MAS) in breeding programs aimed at developing cowpea cultivars having a particular growth habit.

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Acknowledgements

Cowpea germplasm accessions were provide by the USDA, ARS, and PGRCU at GRIFFIN, GA. The cowpea_Genome_0.03.fa (6750 scaffolds or contigs) (http://harvest-blast.org/) was kindly provided by Dr. Timothy J. Close at the University of California Riverside, CA, USA. This work is supported, in part, by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch Project Accession Number 1002423.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Horticulture, 316 PTSC, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA

    Waltram Ravelombola, Jun Qin, Ainong Shi, Yuejin Weng, Gehendra Bhattarai & Lingdi Dong

  2. Plant Genetic Resources Conservation Unit, USDA, 1109 Experiment St, Griffin, GA, 30223, USA

    J. Bradley Morris

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  1. Waltram Ravelombola
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  2. Jun Qin
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  3. Ainong Shi
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  7. J. Bradley Morris
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Correspondence to Ainong Shi.

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Ravelombola, W., Qin, J., Shi, A. et al. A SNP-based association analysis for plant growth habit in worldwide cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) Germplasm. Euphytica 213, 284 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-017-2077-z

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