ABSTRACT

 Field experiment was conducted at the National Root Crops Research Institute, Urnudike to investigate suitable weeding regime for enhanced productivity' of vegetable cowpea (Vigna unguiculala {L.] Waip). Five weeding regimes: No weeding, weed free, one weeding, two weeding’s, three weddings were studied for their effect on the yield and yield component of 1T81-1228-14, IT83S-91 1 -d IT93K-915. The experiment was arranged as a split-plot in Randomized Complete Block Design with the vegetable cowpea varieties as the main plot and the weed ag regime as the subplot. Vegetable cowpea varieties significantly influenced (P

<0.05) fresh pod yield, weight, width, dry matter yield, seed size and number of seeds per pod. Weed free, one weeding, two weedings and three weedings increased growth and yield parameters of vegetable cowpea varieties such as fresh pod weight, length, height, number branches, seed size, number of seeds/pod and pods/plant compared with no weeding. Mean fresh pod yield were 5910.0kg/ha, 3997.1kg/ha, 7811.6kg/ha for IT81I)- 1228-14, 1T83S-91 1 and IT93K 915 respectively. The magnitude of weed suppression varied between the cowpea varieties. IT81D-1228-14 had the lowest weed density at 6 and 9WAP wheras IT93K-915 had the * lowest weed dry matter at 6WAP, 9WAP and at harvest. Averaged over weed control, weed density and dry matter was lowest when cowpea was weed once. The results suggest that IT93K-915 had the highest response in the attributes studied and yield was maximized at two and three weedings. 1T8lD-122-l4 and 1T93K-915 have potentials as cover crops in weed management. >