Screening Twenty Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) Genotypes for Resistance to Thrips (Megalurothrips sjöstedti) in Burkina Faso

Abstract

Losses caused by flower thrips in cowpea are important. These pests can cause from 60% to total crop yield loss. There is, therefore , an urgent need to address this issue. This work has been undertaken to identify sources of resistance to thrips in cowpea. Twenty cowpea genotypes were screened at Kamboinsé research station under improve netting in pots.  The number of aborted flowers per line, the percentage of damage to flowers and stipules, and the number of thrips per genotype were evaluated. The results revealed the existence of six genotype of cowpea resistant to thrips. Among these genotypes three are already known thrips resistant lines (TVU1509, TVx3236 and Sanzi). Moreover, Sanzi showed interesting potentialities that maybe exploited. The new identified lines are Nafi, variety popularized in 2012 and variety KVx780-3 which is being popularized. The KVx165-14-1 (old popular variety) showed sources of tolerances while the KN1 genotype was susceptible to thrips. In another hand, all the wild genotypes showed high susceptibility to thrips.