The cowpea bruchid, Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Bruchini), is a worldwide pest of stored cowpea grain [ Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. (Leguminosae)], causing tens of millions of dollars’ worth of damage annually. One method of managing this pest involves planting cultivars whose seeds are resistant to bruchids. Despite extensive research, we still do not know the me...

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is popularly grain legume referred to as ‘beans’ in West Africa. It is nutritious and provides protein, vitamins, and minerals. Cowpea grain contains about 25% protein, making it extremely valuable where many people can’t afford proteins from animal sources such as meat and fish [1,2]. Cowpea flour has been used as a nutritious ingredient in fried and baked products, ...

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp cv C-152) plants were grown in a system in which watering was withheld from the soil zone containing nodules, while the plants were able to maintain normal water status. The system was developed in a pot by making two soil zones, an upper and a lower separated by a gravel column between these two zones. Plants extended their roots into the lower layer of soil a...

Thirty six isolates of fungi obtained from anthracnose lesions of cashew and associated host plants in Brazil, were compared by their cultural, morphological and partial sequences of the 28S ribosomal DNA characters. They showed a high degree of cultural variability. The average mycelial growth rate on all tested media ranged from 10.2-13.3 mm/day between the isolates. Most of them produced per...

An 11.76-kilobase-pair (kb) segment of DNA from Bradyrhizobium sp. (Vigna) strain IRc 78 that hybridizes to nodulation genes of Rhizobium meliloti strain 41 was isolated. Hybridization of the 11.76-kb DNA fragment to DNA from other Bradyrhizobium species revealed a high degree of sequence conservation in this region. Transfer of the 11.76-kb segment to nodulation-defective (Nod(-)) mutants of R...

13 The nutritive value of 20 forage plants commonly used for feeding pigs in the Democratic 14 Republic of the Congo was studied to determine chemical composition, protein amino acid 15 profiles, mineral content, and in vitro digestibility using a two-steps method combining an 16 enzymatic pepsin and pancreatin hydrolysis followed by a 72h gas-test fermentation. The 17 highest protein contents ...

The strain BR 3262 was isolated from nodule of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) growing in soil of the Atlantic Forest area in Brazil and it is reported as an efficient nitrogen fixing bacterium associated to cowpea. Firstly, this strain was assigned as Bradyrhizobium elkanii, however, recently a more detailed genetic and molecular characterization has indicated it could be a Bradyrhizobium p...