ANALYSING THE YIELD PERFORMANCE OF SOME COWPEA BREEDING LINES EVALUATED FOR RESISTANCE TO MARUCA POD BORERS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study strived to analyse the performance of some cowpea varieties, which combine resistance to Maruca pod borers with good yield. These varieties have shown some levels of resistance to Maruca pod borers
without insecticide protection in Nigeria. However, their performance differs among locations consequent upon differential insect pressure. The method of analysis embraced two factor factorial experiments, the two
factors being locations and insect pressure as reflected in the yield of the cowpea lines. Each of the factors has two levels which are spray and no spray and the factors were considered simultaneously. The analysis
was based on testing whether there is a significant effect due to either factor, and if any effect of the first factor is dependent on the second (the interaction). The result of the analysis indicated that differences between location and insect pressure significantly affected the performance of the cowpea varieties. The location insect pressure interaction is insignificant at 5% level. The analysis of various models confirm that effects of the different factors (rows, columns, or treatments) are additive and that the residual errors are normally and
independently distributed with the same variance.