"Kairali" - A Mosaic Resistant Vegetable Cowpea

Abstract

Vegetable cowpea is cultivated on commercial scale in Kerala. Incidence of mosaic diseases caused by viruses is a major handicap in its cultivation and the disease is very severe in summer season and is quiet difficult to control. Cultivating resistant varieties is the most economical and practical method to tackle this disease. Immunity/resistance to mosaic disease have been reported in grain cowpea by Khatri and Singh (1974), Patel et al. (1982) and Doraiswamy et al. (1983). Cowpea