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Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata(L)Walp.); Fabaceae

CO 2,  Pusa Komal , PKM 1 and Arka Garima Co(CP) 7, Paiyur 1, VBN 1 Co 6,  VBN 2

  • Well drained soil with high organic matter is required.
  • It is a warm season crop, it can not tolerate very low temperature.

June – July (Rainfed), February – March (irrigated).

  • 20 kg/ha.
  • Treat the seeds with 600 g of Rhizobium bacterial culture before sowing as in cluster beans.
  • Dibble the seeds on both sides of the ridges or in lines in the beds
  • Plough the field to fine tilth.
  • Form ridges and furrows at 45 cm apart or beds of convenient size.

45 x 15 cm

  • Treat the seeds with Rhizobial culture @ 600 g/ha using rice gruel as binder.
  • Dry the treated seeds in shade for 15 – 30 minutes before sowing.
  • Treat the seeds with Carbendazim or Thiram 2 g/kg of seed 24 hours before sowing (or) with talc formulation of Trichoderma viride @ 4g/kg of seed (or) Pseudomonas fluorescens @ 10 g/kg seed.
  • Biocontrol agents are compatible with biofertilizers.
  • First treat the seeds with biocontrol agents and then with Rhizobium
  • Fungicides and biocontrol agents are incompatible.
 
  • Give irrigation immediately after sowing and on 3rd day, thereafter once a week.
  • Irrigate at intervals of 7 to 10 days depending upon soil and climatic conditions.
  • Flowering and pod formation stages are critical periods when irrigation is a must.
  • Avoid water stagnation at all stages. .
  • Apply KCl at 0.5 per cent as foliar spray during vegetative stage if there is moisture stress.
  • Foliar spray of Spray of NAA 40 mg/litre and Salicylic acid 100 mg/litre once at pre-flowering and another at 15 days thereafter
  • Foliar spray of DAP 20 g/litre  or urea 20 g/litre once at flowering and another at 15 days thereafter
  • Pre emergence application of Pendimethalin 2 litres on 3 days after sowing using Backpack/ Knapsack/Rocker sprayer fitted with flat fan nozzle using 500 l of water for spraying one ha.
  • After this, one hand weeding on 30 days after sowing gives weed free environment throughout the crop period.
  • If herbicides are not applied give two hand weedings on 15 and 30 days after sowing.
  • Apply FYM 25 t, Azospirillum @ 2 kg and Phosphobacteria @ 2 kg /ha, and N 25 kg and P 50 kg/ha for irrigated crop.
  • Apply FYM at 12.5 t/ha and N 12.5 kg and P 25 kg/ha for rainfed crop.
  • Fertilizers can be applied in several split doses at fortnightly intervals.
    Apply 25kg Zn SO4, 10 kg borax as soil application basally.

Before flowering, the tendrils should be pinched thrice for getting bushy plants.

Give one hoeing and weeding on 25th day after sowing.

1.Gram pod borer: Helicoverpa armigera

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Symptoms of damage 

  • Defoliation in early stages
  • Larva’s head alone thrust inside the pods and the rest of  body hang out.
  • Pods with round holes

Management

  • ETL: 5-6 eggs or 2-3 small larvae / plant
  • Bird perches @ 50 / ha
  •  Set up light trap
  •  Pheromone traps @ 12 / ha
  • NPV @ 250 LE / ha + 0.1 % teepol
  • Apply any one of the following insectcides:
    • Azadirachtin 0.03 % WSP 2500-5000 g/ha
    • Bacillus thuringiensis serovar kurstaki (3a,3b,3c) 5%WP1000-1250 g/ha

2.Spotted pod borer: Maruca testulalis

DSCN5126

Symptoms of damage

  • Bore holes on the buds, flower or pods
  • Infested pods and flowers are webbed together.

Management:

  • ETL: 3/plant
  • Phosalone 0.07% (Spray fluid 625 ml/ha)
     When the activity of coccinellid predator (both grubs and adults) is seen, insecticide application should be avoided.

3.Spiny pod borer: Etiella zinckenella

Symptoms of damage

  • Dropping of flowers and young pods
  • Older pods marked with a brown spot where a larvae has entered

Management

  • ETL: 5-6 eggs or 2-3 small larvae / plant
  • Bird perches @ 50 / ha
  •  Set up light trap
  •  Pheromone traps @ 12 / ha

4.Blue butterfly: Lampides boeticus

Lampides / Lampides boeticus | Insects, Butterfly, Animals

Symptoms of damage

  • Buds, flowers and young pods with boreholes
  • Presence of slug like caterpillar.
  • Honey dew secretion with black ant movements

Management

Spray any one of the following insectcides (Spray fluid 500 l/ha)

    • Emamectin benzoate 5%SG 220 g/ha
    • Indoxacarb 15.8%SC 333 ml/ha
    • NSKE 5% twice followed by triazophos 0.05%
    • Neem oil 2%

5.Grass blue butterfly: Euchrysops cnejus

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Symptoms of damage

  • Buds, flowers and young pods with boreholes and presence of slug like caterpillar.
  • Larval entry hole on the pod is plugged with excreta.

Management of pod borer complex

  • ETL 10% affected parts
  • Deep summer ploughing in 2-3 years to eliminate quiescent pupa.
  • Early sowing, short duration varieties.
  • Grow tall sorghum as comparison crop to serve as biological bird perches

6.Bean Aphids: Aphis craccivora  

 Symptoms of damage 

  • Leaves, inflorescence stalk and young pods  covered with dark coloured aphids
  • Honey dew secretion with black ant movements

Management:

  • ETL: 20/2.5 cm shoot length
  • Spray any one of the following (Spray fluid 250 l /ha)
    • Methyl demeton 25 EC 500 ml/ha
    • Dimethoate 30 EC 500 ml/ha

7.Leaf hopper: Empoasca kerri

 Symptoms of damage 

  • Leave mottled and yellowish in colour
  • Green colour insects found under surface of leaves

Management:

  •  Spray the infested crop with methyl-o- demeton 750 ml in 700 – 1000 L water per hectare

8.Pod bugs:  Riptortus pedestris

   

 Symptoms of damage 

  • Pods with black spots
  • Shedding of green pods
  • Poorly filled pods with shriveled grains inside

Management:

Spray any one of the following insecticides (Spray fluid 500 l/ha)

  • Dimethoate 30% EC 500ml/ha
  • Methyl demeton 25%EC 500ml/ha
  • Imidacloprid 17.8 SL 100-125 ml/ha
  • Thiamethoxam 25% WG 100 g/ha

9.Lab lab bug or Stink bug: Coptosoma cribraria

Symptoms of damage

  • Cluster on the  plant  parts and suck the sap

Management-

  • Dimethoate 30% EC 500ml/ha
  • Methyl demeton 25%EC 500ml/ha

10.Whitefly: Bemisia tabaci

Symptoms of damage

  • Leave mottled and yellowish in colour
  • vector of yellow mosaic virus

Management of sucking pests

  • Shaking the infested plants over the vessels of oil and water or oily cloth gives most effective
  • Spray methyl demeton 25 EC 500ml or dimethoate 30 EC 500 ml or phosphomidon 85 WSC 250 ml/ha

11.Blister beetle: Mylabris phalerata

DSCN2474

Symptoms of damage

  • The adult feeds voraciously on buds and flowers.

Management

  • Collection with insect net and killing of adults in kerosenized water appears to be the only possible solution.

1.Root rot and Damping off: Pythium, Rhizoctonia, Macrophomina

Symptom
  • Symptoms vary and include rapid death of young succulent plants.
  • Discoloration of taproots, longitudinal cracks of the stems, stunting, wilting and poor yields.
  • Complete control of root rot and damping off is difficult, and no variety of cowpea is resistant to root rot.

Management

  • Soil application P. fluorescens or T. viride– 2.5 kg / ha + 50 kg of well decomposed FYM or sand
  • Spot drenching with Carbendazim @ 1 gm/ litre

2.Southern blight: Sclerotium rolfsii

Symptoms
  • Southern blight is caused by a fungus that attacks roots and stems of cowpeas.
  • The plant dies within a few days.
  • In this white-mat of the fungus, light-tan to dark-brown mustard seed-like bodies called sclerotia are formed.

3.Cowpea mosaic Virus

Symptom
  • Symptoms vary and include rapid death of young succulent plants.
  • Discoloration of taproots, longitudinal cracks of the stems, stunting, wilting and poor yields.
  • Complete control of root rot and damping off is difficult, and no variety of cowpea is resistant to root rot.

Management

  • Rouging out of cowpea mosaic virus diseased plants in the early stage of growth up to 30 days and spraying twice at fortnightly intervals with Methyl demeton 25 EC 500 ml/ha.

4.Fusarium wilt: Fusarium oxysporum

Symptom
  • Fusarium wilt usually causes the lower leaves on one side of the plant to turn yellow.
  • Infected plants usually are stunted and wilted as the organism develops in the food and water conducting tissues.
  • Brick red tissue can be observed in the stem when it is split lengthwise.

Management

Fungal and viral diseases can be reduced by:

  • Treating high quality seed with fungicides labeled for cowpeas.
  • A four or five year rotation with other crops.
  • Bury previous crop debris and the sclerotia, to control Southern blight at least 6 inch deep as far ahead of planting as possible.
  • Seeding into warm, well-prepared soils.

1.Potassium :

Deficiency Symptoms :

  • Tips and edges of the older leaflets turn yellow. 
  • The yellowing spreads gradually toward the center and base of the leaflets. 
  • The condition is followed by necrosis and browning of tissue around the leaf margins & eventually dropping of the leaves.

Correction Measure :

Foliar spray of KCl 1% can control this deficiency.

2. Sulphur

Sulphur

Deficiency Symptoms

  • Deficient plants become chlorotic.
  • New leaves are first affected, but gradually the entire plant becomes uniformly chlorotic.

Correction Measure

Foliar spray of CaSO4@0.5-1.0%

3.Boron

Boron

Deficiency Symptoms

  • Upper internodes of the stem are shortened, giving the plants a rosette appearance. 
  • Upper leaves near the growing points turn yellow and sometimes red. 
  • Symptoms are most severe at the leaf tips while the leaf bases remain green.

Correction Measure

Foliar spray of Borax 0.2% at fortnightly intervals.

4.Iron

Iron

Deficiency Symptoms :

  • Iron deficiency occurs on some soils when the pH is high.
  • Frequently it is on soils which contain considerable quantities of free lime.
  • Whole leaf including the veins turns yellow.
  • Interveinal areas turn chlorotic first then the veins become chlorotic and finally, under severe Fe deficiency, the leaves turn almost white.

Correction Measure :

Foliar spray of FeSO4@0.5%

5.Manganese

Deficiency Symptoms :

  • Leaves become chlorotic in interveinal areas while the veins remain green.
  • Symptoms differ from Fe where the veins also become chlorotic.
  • Whole leaves, veins excepted, become pale green and pale yellow.
  • Deficiency occurs on the new leaves, however the chlorotic leaves are no longer at top of the plant.

Correction Measure :

  • Application of Manganese Sulphate 5 kg/ha in soil.
  • Foliar spraying of manganese sulphate twice at 10 days interval
  • The tender pods can be harvested from 40-50 days after sowing.
  • Yields is 2,500 kg (rainfed) and 5,000 kg (Irrigated) in a crop duration of 75 to 90 days.