cowpea. Vigna unguiculata strain:Blackeye 5

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is one of two tropical legumes that are important, and inexpensive, sources of dietary protein in India, Brazil and Sub-Saharan Africa. It is consumed as dry seeds, fresh southern peas, green pods or leaves. Cowpea forage is used to feed livestock in the Sahel and Sudan Savannah regions of Africa. Breeding for resistance to various fungal and viral pathogens depends upon knowledge about the various resistance genes that have been demonstrated. To this end, a pair of BAC libraries have been prepared from the recurrent parent and the one of the BC8 progeny to get at the gene conferring dominant resistance to cowpea mosaic virus.