Assessment of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) varieties for grain yield and profitability through on farm trial

Cowpea is one of the important food legume crops belonging to the Fabaceae family. Farmers lack of awareness about the latest cowpea varieties suitable for rainfed situations; therefore, an attempt was made to assess suitable varieties for enhancing yield and productivity under on farm trial. The present investigation was conducted in three villages of Virudhunagar district to assess the suitable variety of cowpea for rainfed conditions. Five farmers’ fields were randomly selected and two high yielding improved varieties of cowpea (VBN 3 and DC 15) were sown along with one check variety (CO (CP) 7). The trial was conducted with five replications. During the course of study, observations like plant height (cm), days to 50% flowering, grain yield (q/ha) were recorded. Among the varieties assessed, VBN 3 variety recorded the plant height (68.9 cm), days to 50% flowering (53 days), maximum grain yield of 11 q/ha with high net return (Rs.49500) and Benefit-cost ratio (1:2.20) followed by DC 15 grain yield of 10 q/ha. Hence, it was concluded that the VBN 3 variety of cowpea proved superior followed by DC 15 under the rainfed condition.