Cowpea

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Cowpea

The Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is one of several species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
of the widely cultivated genus Vigna
Vigna

The genus Vigna is in the plant family Fabaceae. The genus is named after Dominico Vigna, an Italian people botanist of the 17th century. They include some well-known and other less well-known beans formerly – and sometimes still, especially in non-scholarly sources – included in the genus Phaseolus....
. Four cultivated subspecies are recognised:

Cowpeas are one of the most important food legume

Legume

A legume is a plant in the family Fabaceae , or a fruit of these specific plants. A legume fruit is a Fruit#Simple fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually Dehiscence on two sides....
crops in the semi-arid tropics covering Asia, Africa, southern Europe and Central and South America. A drought tolerant and warm weather crop, cowpeas are well-adapted to the drier regions of the tropics, where other food legumes do not perform well.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Cowpea'

Start a new discussion about 'Cowpea'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Recent Posts

What is the taxonomic classification of cowpea?

Encyclopedia

The Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is one of several species

Species

Vigna unguiculata subsp. cylindrica Catjang
Catjang

Catjang is a subspecies of cowpea. The catjang plant is native to Africa, and is an erect densely branched shrubby perennial of Old World tropics....
Vigna unguiculata subsp. dekindtiana
Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis Yardlong bean
Yardlong bean

The yardlong bean is also known as the long-podded cowpea, asparagus bean, snake bean, or Chinese long bean. It is known as dau gok in Yue Chinese, thua fak yao in Thai language and kacang panjang in Indonesian language and Malay language, sitaw in Tagalog language, bora in the West Indies and vali or eeril in Goa,...
Vigna unguiculata subsp. unguiculata Black-eyed pea
Black-eyed pea

The black-eyed pea, also called black-eyed bean, "??" , lobiya , feij?o-frade , b?r?lce , Chavali/???? ,thatta payir , alasandee , mavromatika , louvi , and d?u tr?ng , is a subspecies of the cowpea, grown around the world for its medium-sized edible bean....

Cowpeas are one of the most important food legume

Legume

Nitrogen fixation

Nitrogen fixation is the process by which nitrogen is taken from its relatively inert molecular form in the Earth's atmosphere and converted into nitrogen compounds ....
through its root nodule

Root nodule

Root nodules occur on the roots of plants that associate with symbiotic bacterium.Under nitrogen limiting conditions, plants from the pea family Fabaceae form a symbiotic relationship with a host-specific strain of bacteria known as rhizobia....
s, and it grows well in poor soils with more than 85% sand and with less than 0.2% organic matter and low levels of phosphorus. In addition, it is shade tolerant, and therefore, compatible as an intercrop with maize

Maize

Maize , known as corn in some countries, is a cereal domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents....
, millet

Millet

The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal Crop or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a scientific classification group, but rather a functional or agronomic one....
, sorghum

Sorghum

Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of Poaceae, some of which are raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture....
, sugarcane

Sugarcane

Sugarcane is a genus of 6 to 37 species of tall perennial plant Poaceae , native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Old World. They have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar and measure 2 to 6 meters tall....
, and cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa....
. This makes cowpea an important component of traditional intercropping systems, especially in the complex and elegant subsistence farming systems of the dry savanna

Savanna

A savanna, or savannah, is a tropical, subtropical or temperate woodland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the Canopy does not close....
s in sub-Saharan Africa. Research in Ghana found that selecting early generations of cowpea crops to increase yield is not an effective strategy. Francis Padi from the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute in Tamale, Ghana, writing in Crop Science, suggests other methods such as bulk breeding are more efficient in developing high-yield varieties.

Southern peas are a common food item in the southern United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, where they are sometimes called crowder peas . They are so named because they appear to be crowded into their pods. The crowding causes them to have a squarish shape rather than round. Some in the South also refer to them as "black-eyed peas".

In Marathi, these are called Chawali/Chavali(????). (Karamani or Karamani Payir or Thatta Payir Tamil

Tamil people

Tamil people , are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, a state in India, and the Sri Lankan Tamils of Sri Lanka. They speak Tamil language , with a recorded history going back five millennia....
) are an integral part of the cuisine in southern region of India. In Tamilnadu during the Tamil month of Maasi(February) - Panguni(March) called Kozhukattai/Adai (steamed sweet cake) prepared with cooked and mashed cowpea bean mixed with jaggery

Jaggery

Jaggery , gur , desi and panela , is a traditional unrefined non-centrifugal sugar consumed in Asia, Africa and South America....
, ghee

Ghee

Ghee is a class of clarified butter that originated in the Indian subcontinent, and is important in South Asian cuisine and Middle Eastern cuisine ....
and other sub ingredients.

According to the USDA food database, cowpeas have the highest percentage of calories from protein among vegetarian

Vegetarianism

File:Foods.jpgVegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes meat , fish and poultry.There are several variants of the diet, some of which also exclude egg and/or some products produced from animal labour such as dairy products and honey....
foods.

Cowpea

External links