@article{article_376881, title={A Traditional Underutilized Crop of Turkey: Cowpea [Vigna Unguiculata (L.) Walp.] Landraces}, journal={ANADOLU Ege Tarımsal Araştırma Enstitüsü Dergisi}, volume={27}, pages={62–68}, year={2017}, author={Kır, Alev and Tan, Ayfer and Adanacıoglu, Nese and Karabak, Sevinc and Aysar Guzelsoy, Nurcan}, keywords={Börülce,Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.,Agro-morfolojik karakterler,yerel çeşit,genetik çeşitlilik,varyasyon,tarımsal biyoçeşitlilik,sosyo-ekonomik çalışma,geleneksel bilgi,gıda bileşimi}, abstract={<p> <i> <span lang="en-us" style="font-size:9pt;font-family:’Times New Roman’, serif;" xml:lang="en-us">Many diverse cowpea [ <b>Vigna unguiculata </b>
(L.) Walp.] landraces are still maintained on-farm in Turkey. Two of
the ssp. grown in Turkey: <b>Vigna unguiculata </b> subsp. <b>sesquipedalis </b> (L.) Verdcourt and <b>Vigna
unguiculata </b> subsp. <b>unguiculata </b>. Cowpea is a popular and important
leguminous crop especially in Aegean, Mediterrenean and South Marmara Regions
which is known as “börülce” and has different local names like “acebek”,
“loğlaz”, “lolaz”, “lübye”, “kocafasulye”, “karnıkara”, “sarı gelin” in Turkey.
These landraces are maintained on-farm for various reasons, including better
quality than commercial varieties, better performance in terms of yieldor
persistence under harsh agro-environmental conditions, traditional uses such as
particular traits appreciated by the farm family. They are not necessarily
maintained under ‘traditional farming systems’, but are ‘maintained because of
tradition’, especially related to food. It is already marketed as niche.
However, most of them, especially garden and neglected crops, are highly
threatened because they are cultivated primarily by aging farmers. It is better
adapted to drought, high temperatures and biotic stresses than other legume
species. Green pods, fresh seeds and dry grains are consumed as different
dishes and it plays an important role in the nutrition of the local people in
Turkey.To assess the diversity of cowpea landraces in Turkey, cowpea
populations were surveyed, collected, conserved ex-situ at the National Seed
Gene Bank of the Aegean Agricultural Research Institute and also evaluated
agro-morphologically. A total of 253 landrace accessions mainly from the
Aegean, Mediterranean, and South Marmara Regions of Turkey were used to evaluate 41
qualitative and quantitative agro-morphological characteristics of the landrace
samples. All landraces showed high variation of observed characters. As
priority underutilized species of Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition Project
of Turkey
various studies were conducted on cowpea landraces. During surveys
ethno-botanical information and traditional farming systems were recorded. The
socio-economic studies were conducted for detail data with monography technic.
The data recorded from face to face questioners with 23 producers/farmers and
67 consumers. Surveys for the conclusion of process from harvest to consumption
were conducted to generate the idea on marketing opportunity, to assist to
obtain the information for the development of policy to upload the relevant information
about the traditional knowledge. During surveys ethno-botanical information,
the different type of dishes of fresh pods and cowpea dry grains and
traditional farming systems applied to cowpea production were recorded.
Generally, the average age of responders is 53 and 76% have primary school
degrees. The vast majority of consumers use the cowpeas 1-2 times a week in
their diet. Cowpea consumption per household is 21.9 kg. year <sup>-1 </sup>and
consumption per capita is 6.3 kg. year <sup>-1 </sup>. Consumption percentage has
found as 76.1% and 61.7% of harvested amount are marketed. The food composition
of dry grain and fresh pods collected from Aegean Region was also determined to
evaluate nutritional value of cowpea landraces. The proximate composition and
mineral content of cowpea samples were analyzed using standard methods and
reference materials. The study shows that dry grains contain a rich source of
protein, dietary fiber, zinc, potassium and iron. Dry grains of cowpea can be a
good solution to digestion problems by regulating intestinal function with high
dietary fiber content. Fresh pods also have high dietary fiber, potassium and
zinc content. Cowpea meals are good sources of nutrients and can be used as
ingredients in healthy diets. </span> </i> <br /> </p>}, number={2}, publisher={Ege Tarımsal Araştırma Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü}