Ethnobotanical investigation and Morphobiometric Characterization of different Cowpea seeds (Vigna Unguiculata Subsp. Unguiculata (L.) Walp) in the Hoggar region (Algerian Sahara): acquisition And future investment project for food security in Algeria

The cowpea is exogenous crop introduced into the extreme south of Algeria from Niger; it has been cultivated and preserved by the farmers of Hoggar (Tamanrasset, Algeria). Our study was carried out to survey, collect identify and document the uses of cowpea landraces at the level of this arid region. To this end, missions have been organized on this traditional agriculture, in order to collect accessions as possible and to provide information on cultural practices and traditional know-how related to this culture. The study is part of the more than ethnobotanical prospection of the landraces encountered during our investigation in ten communes of the wilaya of Tamanrasset located the Hoggar. Hoover, a semi-structured questionnaire was elaborated taking into account the objectives expected. It concerns the farmer, ethnobotanical, agronomic information’s and the economic management of the farm (the farmer, his farm and the technical itineraries adopted). In fact, (50) farmers were interviewed and a sampling was carried out in each commune surveyed, and eighteen (18) local cowpea landraces were harvested through outings that were organized during year 2018. This study showed that among the farmers interviewed, 70.02% were men and 29.07% were women. The farmers cultivate cowpea on small areas, its production is used only for self-consumption and a small marketed in the villages where the plant is cultivated, three main parts are used by the farmers surveyed: seeds, green pods and hay. After the harvest, the rest of the plant (leaves and stems) are used to feed livestock (sheep and cattle). Cowpea cultivation is in danger of disappearing, according to the majority of the farmers surveyed, diseases and insect attacks are low (32%).In addition, low rainfall, electricity and lack of labor during manual harvesting seem to be the main production constraints reported by the farmers surveyed. While farmers are satisfied with the yields they have obtained. The pods and seeds collected are also characterized by quantitative traits such as Seed thickness (ST), Seed diameter (SD), and Weight of 100 seeds (WHS), pod diameter (PD), number of eggs by pod (CIP), number of seeds by pod, (NSP). Also, by qualitative characters such Seed color (CG), Eye color (CE), Seed form (F), Seed texture (T), were considered. The results showed that the diameter and thickness of pods (PD and PT) varies from 7.5 to 20 cm and 0.3 to 0.8 cm successively. The diameter and thickness of seeds (SD and ST) varies from 0.5 to 1.01 cm, while Weight of 100 seeds (WHS) recorded an average of 6.56   and 18.35 g. However, significant differences were detected in several morphological traits. From the result of Principal Component Analysis (PCA), axis 1 explains 67,38% of the variance in the qualitative character and it showed a strange  positive correlation , seed diameter(SD) , it was positively and significantly correlated with thickness (ST).on  the other way , the pod diameter (PD)  was correlated with   thickness (PT), while  Weight of 100 seeds (WHS) was  correlated with diameter and thickness of seed and pod (SD ,ST, PD, PT), whereas the number of eggs by pod (CIP)  was  correlated with the number of seeds (NSP)  by pod, the number of eggs by  pod (CIP )