Assessment of resistance to the attack of bean beetle Callosobruchus maculatus (Fabricius) in chickpea genotypes on the basis of various parameters during storage

Abstract

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), is an important pulse food. During storage this commodity is severely attacked bybean beetle Callosobruchus maculatus (Fabricius) resulting losses in quantity and nutritional quality. Research studies onrelative resistance of 12 chickpea genotypes to the attack of C. maculatus during storage were carried out. The genotypesmost tolerant to bruchids comprised CH-52/02 and B-8/03, whereas, the most susceptible reactions were apparent inCH-86/02 and CC-117/00. The moderate pest incidence was observed in CH-28/02, CH-4/02, CH-32/02, CH-31/02, CH-9/02,CM-772/03, B-8/02 and CM-628/03 genotypes. The tolerant genotypes exhibited hard and wrinkled seed coat, dark browncolour and small size grain. These characteristics demonstrated a significant harmful effect to pest appearance and graindamage. The vulnerable genotypes had soft and smooth seed coat, white seed colour and bigger grain size that causedvulnerability to C. maculatus. Based on the present investigation, chickpea genotypes CH-52/02 and B-8/03 deserve specialconsideration and may be recommended for relatively longer storage to achieve the goal of long term and sustainable pestmanagement strategies.