Cow pea is oldest annual legume grown throughout India for green pods, dry seeds, green manure and fodder purpose. It is consider as crop of African origin. It is drought hardy crop also quick growing thus supressed weeds during initial stage. It also help to conserved soil and moisture. Cowpea is a good source of protein, calcium and iron.

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

Type-2: It has expanded stem and leaves are dark green in color, legumes are long and shiny. Seeds are medium in size and have white and black color spots in middle of the seeds. Brown spots are also observed on seeds. The variety gets mature in 130-140 days. The variety is also grown for fodder purpose.

Pusa Barsati: It has expanded stem and leaves are green in color. Long legumes, shiny and white in color. The back side of seeds is big and is red in color and rest of the part is white in color. The variety matures in 110-120 days. For green vegetables, it is suitable.

Pusa Phalguni: It has small plant which is bushy. The variety is suitable for growing in spring season. It can also be grown in Kharif season. The variety matures in approximately 60-70 days. It has small sized grains, which are white in color and is cylindrical in shape. Because of its white seeds the variety is suitable for making lentils. The green legumes of this variety are useful in making vegetable. The variety is suitable for mixed farming.

Pusa Dofasli: Its plant is medium sized bushy. It takes 10 days more for maturity. It has long legumes and when dried it turns into white color. It has big seeds than Pusa Falguni and spots are seen on it. The variety is suitable for growing both in kharif and rabi season. It is also suitable for mixed farming.

C 152: The variety is suitable for Kharif season. The variety matures in 105-110 days. It is mainly grown as pulses crop and can be grown as fodder crop. It can be grown in mixed farming. It has brown color seeds and is medium in weight.

Type 5269: It is suitable for Kharif season as green vegetable crop. The variety matures in 50-60 days. The variety gives an average yield of 20-25qtl/acre of legumes.

UPC 4200: The variety is mainly developed as fodder crop. The variety matures in 70-80 days. The variety gives an average yield of 145-158qtl/acre of fodder.

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
For summer season, sowing is done in last week of march, for spring season sowing is done in second fortnight of February and in rainy season, sowing is done at the start of rainfall. In hilly areas sowing should be done in April-May month.  

Spacing
while sowing use row to row spacing of 45-50cm and plant to plant spacing of 15cm. For TA 2 variety, use spacing of 45-50cm between row where as for TA 5269 use row to row spacing of 50cm.

Method of sowing
For grain purpose, sow seeds with help of pora or seed cum fertilizer drill. Where as for green manure purpose use broadcasting method.
 

Seed Rate
Use seed rate of 12kg per acre. For TA 5269 use seed rate of 8kg/acre where as for TA 2 variety, use seed rate of 16kg/acre.

Seed Treatment
Before sowing, treat seeds with Thiram@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@2-3 kg in form of Urea@6-8kg/acre along with Phosphorus@2-3kg/acre in form of DAP @16-20kg/acre and potash@7-9kg/acre in the form of Muriate of potash@12-16kg/acre.

Apply irrigation depending upon rainfall frequency and intensity. Apply one or two irrigation in case delay of rainfall for pro-long period.

To protect crop from weeds, Apply Pendimethalin@750ml/acre in 200Ltr of water within 24hours 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 shriveled 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.