Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.), being a leguminous plant, has the second highest vegetable protein content after soybean. Cowpea development considerably supports food diversification and plays a vital role as a highly nutritious food source. The concerned study aimed to determine the variations in morphological traits and the morphological diversity among 18 local cowpea accessions. The collection of seed cowpea accessions came from four different Regencies, i.e., Sumenep (KT1, KT2, KT3, and KT4), Pamekasan (KT5, KT6, KT7, and KT8), Sampang (KT9, KT10, KT11, KT12, and KT13), and Bangkalan (KT14, KT15, KT16, KT17, and KT18), carrying out respective exploration activities per regency. The phenetic analysis, as executed in NTSys ver. 2.1, used simple matching similarity index and the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic average (UPGMA) method. The results revealed that accessions of 18 cowpeas showed variation for 12 morphological traits, including plant pigmentation, terminal leaflet shape, pod attachment, pod curvature, seed shape and color, and flower, eye, and pod colors. Based on the phenetic analysis of Madura cowpea accessions’ morphology, the cowpea accessions showed similarity coefficients from 0.30 to 0.83, which further underwent division into two large groups. Accession KT11 displayed a separation from other accessions because of its significantly different traits of testa texture, pod eye color, and distinctive flower color.

Keywords: Cowpea (V. unguiculata L.), Madura local accessions, morphological diversity, leaf and pod traits, similarity coefficient, Leguminaceae

Key findings: Madura cowpea (V. unguiculata L.) accessions revealed significant differences for 12 morphological traits, including plant pigmentation, terminal leaflet shape, pod attachment, pod curvature, seed shape and color, and flower, eye, and pod colors.