Cowpea was originally a small miscellaneous grain crop with short growth period, but it has good feeding value. It can be used as silage by green feeding or drying hay, or by intercropping with corn, Sudan grass and millet. Good palatability, all kinds of domestic animals like to eat. Good reproducibility, which can be mowed twice. The first time, when the plant height is 40-50 cm, the stubble height is about 10cm, and it can be mowed twice a month. You can also mow the first crop for forage and leave the seeds for the third crop. The growth period is short. Two crops can be planted in the south of the Yangtze River, and the grass can be harvested 1 time and the seeds can be left 1 time in Huaibei area. After picking pods and collecting seeds, the stems and leaves remain green and can be fed as usual. The chemical composition is shown in Table 77.

Table 77 Analysis of chemical constituents of cowpea in Jiangsu Agricultural College.

Cowpea can also be used as a mulch or green manure crop, intercropped between trees of fruit, mulberry and tea. It can also be interplanted between rows of corn, sweet potato and cotton, and it can grow for 40-50 days, which can make it green and increase production significantly. The yield of fresh grass per mu is 800-1500 kg. The fertilizer composition of fresh grass at full flowering stage is as follows: nitrogen 0.42%, phosphorus pentoxide 0.04%, potassium oxide 0. 19%. In addition, the tender pods can be used as vegetables, and the yield of seeds per mu is 60-150 kg, which can be eaten or used as food.

Key points of cultivation

It requires proper deep ploughing, fine soil preparation and good irrigation and drainage ditches. The sowing period is long, from late April to early August in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Generally, it is interplanted in cotton and corn fields in early May; Multiple cropping with early rice stubble is before August 20; Intercropping in fruit, mulberry and tea garden is from late May to early June; Sow the seeds in the field early; In the central parts of Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, it can be advanced by10-20 days. 1000-seed weight100-130g. The sowing amount per mu is 4-5 kg, the row spacing is 30cm, and the hole spacing is15-20 cm; 5-6 kg seeds for drilling, with row spacing of 35cm. There should be 40,000 seedlings per mu, and the seed collection should be appropriate. The row and hole spacing should be relaxed, so that there are 40,000 seedlings per mu1.2-1.5 million. When the sowing depth is 3-4.5 cm, nitrogen fertilizer can be applied at seedling stage 1 time, and phosphorus fertilizer can be applied emphatically. Generally, 20-25 kg of calcium superphosphate is applied as base fertilizer per mu. Field management should check seedlings and replant them as early as possible. When the seedling height is 1 0-13 cm, intertillage weeding1time. In rainy season, it is necessary to clear ditches and manage soil moisture. High temperature and drought at flowering and pod stage require appropriate irrigation. Attention should be paid to the prevention and control of pests and diseases. The main pests are aphids, which occur on the back of leaves. From seedling stage to flowering stage, Spodoptera litura, larvae bite the leaves, and pod borers occur during pod-setting stage. All of them should be treated as early as possible by routine spraying. Fusarium wilt occurs on the main stem, and the diseased spores of diseased plants will spread with the movement of soil moisture. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid continuous cropping, strengthen drainage, pull out and destroy diseased plants in time to reduce the chance of getting sick.

Cowpea can be intercropped and mixed at the seedling stage of corn, Sudan grass and millet, and silage can be prepared according to the harvest time of these crops.

78. cowpea

Vigna sesquipedalis（L.）Fruw.

(Chen Mojun)

another name

Black eyed beans, black umbilical beans, rice beans and cowpeas.