3 ± 111.9a 888.1 ± 102.6a 879.3 ± 79.3a 146.5 ± 13.2a   Mamlaka 579.5 ± 94.9cd 686.7 ± 47.6a 401.0 ± 63.0cd 66.8 ± 10.5cd   Fahari 727.5 ± 54.1bcd 252.5 ± 62.4b 507.3 ± 28.7bcd 84.5 ± 4.8bcd   F-statistics 7*** 3** 7.6*** 8***   Values (Mean ± SE) with dissimilar letters in a column are significantly different at p ≤ 0.001 (***); p ≤ 0.01 (**) Table 3 Symbiotic performance, dry matter and grain yield of 9 cowpea varieties grown at Taung, South Africa. Genotype

Nodule number Nodule DM Shoot DM δ15N Ndfa   per plant mg.plant -1 g.plant -1 ‰ % Omondaw 15.6 ± 1.2d 236.7 ± 14.4de 11.4 ± 1.4ef -0.2 ± 0.0de 77.0 ± 0.6bcd Brown eye 15.8 ± 2.4d 361.7 ± 19.5cde 12.3 ± 1.7def 0.2 ± 0.0c 72.6 ± 1.0cd Apagbaala 24.1 ± 0.6c 131.7 ± 10.1e 12.1 ± 0.7def 0.9 Selleckchem Y27632 ± 0.1b 61.2 ± 2.0ef IT82D-889 20.3 ± 0.3cd 1437.2 ± 117.9a 13.5 ± 0.6cde 0.9 ± 0.1b 92.9 ± 1.7a ITH98-46 22.8 ± 2.8c 263.3 ± 8.8de 7.4 ± 0.9f -0.5 ± 0.1ef 81.5 ± 1.3bc Bechuana white 33.4 ± 0.5b 665.3 ± 71.8b 18.1 ± 2.0bc 0.1 ± 0.0cd 85.4 ± 6.1ab Glenda 33.4 ± 0.5b 398.9 ± 7.3cd 22.2 ± 0.8b 1.9 ± 0.3a 59.3 ± 3.6f Mamlaka

PLX4032 research buy 24.5 ± 1.4c 132.2 ± 15.4e 16.7 ± 2.9cd 0.7 ± 0.1b 69.8 ± 4.9d Fahari 42.5 ± 0.6a 538.6 ± 6.1bc 27.8 ± 1.9a -0.6 ± 0.0f 77.0 ± 0.6bcd F-statistics 31.1*** 27.6*** 15.1*** 44.3*** 10.5***   N content Grain yield N-fixed       mg.plant -1 kg.ha -1 mg.plant -1 kg.ha -1   Omondaw 580.6 ± 88.9cde 2231.3 ± 297.9a 446.3 ± 46.2bcd 74.4 ± 7.0bcd   Brown eye 563.1 ± 74.0cde 512.1 ± 66.1c 409.6 ± 57.5bcd 68.3 ± 9.6bcd   Apagbaala 566.2 ± 58.8cde 579.8 ± 47.7c 348.0 ± 47.5cd 58.0 ± 7.9cd   IT82D-889 473.1 ± 15.2de 1427.7 ± 145.0b 438.9 ± 6.9bcd 73.1 ± 1.1bcd   ITH98-46 378.9 ± 35.5e 1500.4 ± 167.6b 307.7 ± 38.3d 51.3 ± 6.4d   Bechuana white 727.5 ± 84.2cd 1494.3 ± 115.4b 620.8 ± 47.5b 103.5 ± 13.7b   Glenda 1021.0 ± 99.3ab 1892.1 ± 129.9ab 598.8 ± 22.1b 99.8 ± 3.7b   Mamlaka 784.8 ± 39.1bc 1651.8 ± 96.2ab ID-8 561.4 ± 40.6bc 93.6 ± 8.4bc   Fahari 1219.3 ± 90.3a 1588.2 ± 107.7b 931.6 ± 27.3a 155.3 ± 4.5a   F-statistics 10.1*** 8.8** 8.2*** 8.2***

  At Wa, Omondaw and Glenda, which were second highest in nodulation, produced the largest shoot biomass and the highest amount of N-fixed compared to Mamlaka and Fahari (which had very low nodule mass). As with IT82D-889 and Brown eye, Omondaw and Glenda also produced the lowest amount of N-fixed and the least shoot biomass (Table 2).