THE INTRODUCTION OF COWPEA (VIGNA SAVI) IN THE NIZHNEVOLZHSKY REGION

The introduction of cowpea gives an opportunity to use the crop for agricultural production, for fodder production and for the introduction of the new and useful food product. Nowadays there is definite information on the biology, agromachinery and use of cowpea that promoted developing the basis for cowpea breeding. The variety samples of asparagus beans showed a significant interaction of ‘genotype-environment’ of the studied traits excluding the duration of the interphase period ‘sprouts-flowering’, plant length and bean length. The plant length varied from 43.3 to 103.3 сm, the height of lower inflorescence attachment varied from 19 to 34 cm, the number of beans varied from 4.7 to 17.7 p., the length of a bean varied from 22.3 to 66.3 cm, 1000-kernel weight varied from 79.0 to 136.5 g, productivity of seeds varied from 120.3 to 673.5 kg/ha. The average content of protein in cowpea kernels varied from 24.2 to 27.5%, the content of oil varied from 1.1 to 1.8%, the content of ash varied from 3.9 to 6.8%, the content of cellulose varied from 3.8 to 7.7%, the content of NFES (nitrogen-free extractive substances) varied from 60.7 to 65.4%. The content of protein in green beans varied from 17.7 to 23.1%, the content of oil varied from 1.7 to 3.6%, the content of ash varied from 5.1 to 6.8%, the content of cellulose varied from 11.8 to 20.3%, the content of NFES (nitrogen-free extractive substances) varied from 49.7 to 59.7%. The content of albumens varied from 13.1 to 18.2%, the content of globulins varied from 2.4 to 3.7%, the content of prolamins varied from 0.19 to 0.74%, the content of glutelins varied from 3.8 to 6.56%. The content of albumens in new green beans varied from 4.6 to 9.6%, the content of globulins varied from 0.9 to 2.1%, the content of prolamins varied from 0.1 to 1.3%, the content of glutelins varied from 0.9 to 3.3%.