Download or read book Genetic Variability for Low Phosphorous Tolerance in Cowpea written by Tulle Wayne Alexander and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a result of rising fertilizer prices and environmental concerns, efforts are being made to develop crop varieties with better nutrient acquisition and use efficiencies to ensure higher yields and sustainability, especially in the semi-arid tropics and sub-tropics where soils are inherently low in nitrogen and phosphorus. Cowpea does not require additional nitrogen fertilizer because of its ability to biologically fix nitrogen, but it needs phosphate application. However, preliminary studies have shown that some cowpea genotypes have the ability to extract bound phosphorus from low-P soils and from rock phosphate. Therefore, a project was initiated at Texas A&M University to develop high yielding cowpea varieties with enhanced acquisition and efficient utilization of phosphorus from low-P soils and rock-P. This study was conducted to screen 12 selected cowpea varieties under low-P soil, with rock- phosphate application. One-kg pots were filled with 1000 g of low-P soil (