Abstract

Cowpea, Vigna unguiculata L. is a very important grain legume crop that is grown in the tropic and sub-tropical regions. It provides a strong support to the livelihood of the rural poor people and small scale farmers through contributions to their nutritional security, income generation and the improvement of soil fertility. However, its production yield can be adversely affected by abiotic and biotic constraints. The stress affecting cowpea creates the need to develop and implement breeding strategies that can alleviate the devastations caused by biotic and abiotic constraints. Breeders employ pedigree, backcross, marker-assisted breeding, genome editing (CRISPR-Cas9) and other modern biotechnological techniques for genetic manipulation of cowpeas, including legumes such as soybean, chickpea and common bean. These useful strategies have brought about major opportunities for breeders to develop cowpea cultivars with improved tolerance to a wide range of growth and yield inhibiting stress factors.