Agronomic performance and quality of seeds of cowpea cultivar in the brazilian "cerrado" region

The productivities of cowpea are low, depending on the use of low productivity capacity cultivar planted, associated with the use of low-quality seeds. The objective of this work was to evaluate the agronomic characteristics and physiological quality in seed lots of different cultivar of cowpea in the "Cerrado", Goias State, Brazil. The experimental design was a complete block with four replicates. The treatments were eight cultivar of cowpea (BRS Guariba, BRS 17 Gurgueia, BRS Rouxinol, BRS Marataoa, Patativa, BRS Tracuateua, BRS Milenio e CE 315), recommended for the North and Northeast regions of Brazil. The effects of the treatments were considerable for all the characteristics assessed. The cultivar BRS Guariba, BRS 17 Gurgueia and BRS Marataoa, presented less intense powdery mildew symptoms. The cultivar presenting higher yield were BRS Guariba and BRS Gurgueia, with 2,211 and 2,196 kg ha(-1) of grain, respectively. The results showed that physiological seed quality influenced productivity of the cultivar. The cultivar BRS CE 315, BRS Gurgueia, BRS Rouxinol, BRS Marataoa and Patativa, with colored hull, produced seeds of better physiological quality compared, to the cultivar of white hull BRS Tracuateua, BRS Milenio and BRS Guariba.