COWPEA

Cow pea is oldest annual legume grown throughout India for green pods, dry seeds, green manure and fodder. It is considered as crop of African origin. It is drought hardy crop also quick growing thus suppressed weeds during initial stage. It also helps to conserved soil and moisture. Cowpea is a good source of protein, calcium and iron. Mixed farming can also be done with maize crop.

It can be grown in variety of soils but gives best result when grown on well drained loamy soils.

Himachal Cowpea 1 (C-475): It is the first variety which is used in sub-mountainous and low mountainous tropical regions. It gives high yield and is white grain variety. It is a medium height and thick stem variety. It has light green color leaves, 13-15cm long legumes and in each legume contains 10-12 pods which are medium in size. The variety gets mature in 80-85 days. The variety is resistant to Cercospora leaf spot, Yellow mosaic and yellow-golden mosaic. It gives an average yield of pods is 5-6qtl/acre.
 
Himachal Cowpea 2 (C-519): The variety is suitable for farming in sub-mountainous and low mountainous tropical regions. It gives 18-20qtl/acre of green plants and 6-7qtl/acre of pods. This variety can also be used as green vegetables and pulses. The variety gets mature in 85-90 days. The variety is resistant to Cercospora spots, Web blight and yellow mosaic.

Other state varieties:

Cowpea 88: Recommended for cultivation throughout state. It is grown for fodder as well as for grain purpose. Its pods are large and seeds are bold having chocolate brown seed color. It is resistant to yellow mosaic and anthracnose disease. It gives average seed yield of 4.4qtl/acre and 100qtl/acre of green fodder.  

CL 367: It can be grown for fodder as well as for grain purpose. It bears large no of pods. Its seeds are small with creamy white color. It gives resistance to yellow mosaic virus and anthracnose disease. It gives an average seed yield of 4.9qtl/acre and 108qtl/acre of green fodder.

Kashi Kanchan: Dwarf and bushy variety, suitable for cultivation in summer as well as rainy season. Pods are soft and of dark green color. It gives average pod yield of 6-7qtl/acre.

 

It required normal bed preparation like other pulse crops. Give two ploughing to bring soil to fine tilth and carry out planking after each ploughing.

Time of sowing
Best time for sowing is from starting week of July.

Spacing
while sowing use row to row spacing of 45 cm and plant to plant spacing of 15 cm.

Sowing Depth
Sowing depth should be 3-4 cm.     
                                                                                                                                                
Method of sowing
Sow seeds with help of pora or seed cum fertilizer drill.
 

Seed Rate
Use seed rate of 6-8kg/acre.

Seed Treatment
Before sowing, treat seeds with Emisan 6@2.5gm/kg of seeds or Carbendazim 50%WP@2gm per kg of seeds. It will protect seeds from seed rot and seedling mortality.

Fertilizer Requirement (kg/acre)

Nutrient Requirement (kg/acre)

At time of sowing, apply Nitrogen@8 kg in form of Urea@18kg/acre along with Phosphorus@16kg in form of Single Super Phosphate@100kg/acre and potash@8kg/acre in the form of Muriate of potash@18kg/acre. Cowpea responds well to Phosphorus fertilizers. It helps to improves root as well as plant growth, plant nutrient uptake, nodulations etc.
 

For good growth, on an average 4-5 irrigations are required. When crop is sown in May month, apply irrigation at interval of 15 days till monsoon arrival.

To protect crop from weeds, application of Pendimethalin@750ml/acre in 150 Ltr of water is done within 24 hours of sowing.

• Pest and their control:
  

Jassid and Black Aphid: If infestation of jassid and black aphid is observed, take spray of Malathion 50EC@200ml/acre in 80-100 Ltrs of water.

Bihar hairy caterpillar: Its infestation is high in month of August to November. To protect crop from this pest, take one row of seasamum seeds around cowpea field at time of sowing.
 

• Disease and their control:
  

Seed rot and seeding mortality: It is caused by various seed-borne microflora. The infected seeds are shrivelled and discoloured. Infected seedlings are killed before these emerge out of soil and cause poor stand of the crop. For its control treat seed with Emisan 6 @2.5 g/kg seed or Bavistin  50WP @ 2g/kg seed before sowing.

55 to 65 days after, crop is ready for harvesting.