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Mutation breeding is one of the innovative methods in plant breeding. Hugo de Vries introduced the term mutation in the late 19th century. Since the induction of artificial transmutation of gene by X-rays on Drosophila by Muller in 1927, the field of mutation breeding has gained improvement. Cowpea is an important food legume of the tropics and subtropics.Improvement of cowpea by conventional breeding techniques is time taking and involves constraints such as small flower, difficult crossing, poor seed setting and less number of seeds per pod. Mutation breeding in recent times as an effective tool for crop improvement and an efficient means supplementing existing germplasm for cultivar improvement in breeding programs. Cowpea has immense scope for genetic improvement for various qualitative and quantitative characters besides widening the genetic base through induced mutagenesis. This book will be definitely helpful for researchers, teachers as well as postgraduate students in standardizing the studies on mutation breeding in cowpea. This book deals with the study of induced genetic variability through gamma rays and EMS in two distinct varieties.

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Dr. Reena Nair, PhD (Horticulture) with specialization in Vegetable Science (Mutation Breeding). Technical Assistant in AICRP on Arid Zone Fruits at Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur, India.

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