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Genetic dissection of yield associated traits in a cross between cowpea and yard-long bean (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) based on DArT markers

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Abstract

Both cowpea and yard-long bean belong to Vigna unguiculata ssp. unguiculata but have diverged through human induced evolution in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, respectively. To map the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for yield associated traits and derive new lines that may combine the attributes of both types, we developed a F2:3 mapping population derived from a cross between cowpea line TVu2185 and yard-long bean line TVu6642. Using DArT markers, a total of 30 QTLs accounting for 1.8–13.0% phenotypic variation was detected for pod and seed traits. Some novel major QTLs for peduncle number per plant (qPeN2.2), pod length (qPoL3), seed breadth (qSB4), length (qSL7.2) and thickness (qST9) identified on chromosomes 2, 3, 4, 7 and 9, respectively, are particularly interesting and need to be validated. Moreover, we confirmed previously reported QTLs for pod length (qPoL8) and 100-seed weight (qSW8) on chromosome 8 and for seed number per pod (qSN9.2) on chromosome 9 suggesting usefulness for marker-assisted-selection purpose. Notably, some QTLs for these traits were clustered especially on chromosomes 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10 indicating the presence of the same QTL or linked loci in these regions. Moreover, the involvement of epistasis was observed for trait expressions, but compared with the main effect QTLs, the phenotypic effects of epistatic-QTLs detected were much less. The present QTL analysis may provide a useful tool for breeders to formulate efficient breeding strategy for introgression of the desirable alleles for yield related traits in cowpea using molecular markers.

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Acknowledgements

The second author thank the Pan African University Institute of Life and Earth Sciences, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. The technical staff of cowpea breeding unit at IITA are acknowledged for their help in maintaining the cowpea populations in screenhouse and assisting in field experimentation as well as collecting the phenotypic data. Authors are thankful to IITA for providing support in infrastructure and facilities.

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Author notes

  1. Ana Luísa Garcia-Oliveira

    Present address: Excellence in Breeding (EiB), CIMMYT c/o ICRAF, Nairobi, 00100, Kenya

  2. CF and OB conceived and designed the study. ZZ extracted the DNA, assisted in genotypic data analysis, BO was university advisor to ZZ and MG assisted with genotyping. ALGO analysed the phenotypic data, constructed the genetic map, QTL analysis and drafted the manuscript. All authors provided their input for improvement and CF finalized the manuscript.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), PMB 5320, Ibadan, 200001, Nigeria

    Ana Luísa Garcia-Oliveira, Zewdneh Zana Zate, Ousmane Boukar, Melaku Gedil & Christian Fatokun

  2. PAULESI-Pan African University, Institute of Life and Earth Sciences, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, 200001, Nigeria

    Zewdneh Zana Zate & Bunmi Olasanmi

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  1. Ana Luísa Garcia-Oliveira
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  2. Zewdneh Zana Zate
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Correspondence to Christian Fatokun.

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Corresponding editor: H. A. Ranganath

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Garcia-Oliveira, A.L., Zate, Z.Z., Olasanmi, B. et al. Genetic dissection of yield associated traits in a cross between cowpea and yard-long bean (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) based on DArT markers. J Genet 99, 57 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12041-020-01216-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12041-020-01216-8

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