Identification of pigeonpea superior genotypes against infestation of pod fly, Melanagromyza obtusa (Malloch) (Diptera: Agromyzidae)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate 20 pigeonpea accessions to identify superior pigeonpea genotypes against pod fly, Melanagromyza obtusa (Malloch) infestation at Agricultural Research Station, Badnapur (Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth (VNMKV), Parbhani), Maharashtra, India during Kharif season of 2015-2016. The pod and grain damage due to M. obtusa was ranged from 1.33 to 100.00 and 0.71 to 91.53 per cent. The pod and grain damage was significantly lowest in Cajanus scarabaeoides (no damage), Cajanus cajanifolius (3.75 and 1.07 per cent), V-127 (9.16 and 3.82 per cent), BDN-2010-1 (15.67 and 8.46 per cent), BSR-1 (16.53 and 9.36 per cent) and ICP-10531 (29.35 and 14.83 per cent) with at par reaction, indicating their high level of resistance against M. obtusa. Whereas the genotypes, KALI TUR (32.49 and 21.10 per cent), BDN-2013-41 (42.90 and 23.10 per cent), BDN-2014-3 (43.98 and 19.68 per cent), GULYAL (44.45 and 31.88 per cent), BDN-2014-1 (52.12 and 34.43 per cent), LRG-41 (53.29 and 43.65 per cent), BSMR-736 (55.18 and 29.84 per cent), BDN-2 (58.86 and 36.06 per cent) and ICPL-322 (60.18 and 32.62 per cent) shown moderate pod and grain damage levels and having at par effect with each other. The genotypes, BRG-2 (89.75 and 82.02 per cent) recorded highest pod and grain damage due to M. obtusa and was at par with BRG-1 (77.65 and 71.53 per cent), ICP-7035 (70.98 and 65.14 per cent), BSMR-846 (64.59 and 51.20 per cent) and KHADKI (62.80 and 43.72 per cent), respectively, indicated their high level of susceptibility against M. obtusa. However the genotype Cajanus scarabaeoides shown no pod and grain damage due to M. obtusa, indicating that the genotype is having most resistance against M. obtusa infestation and it can be used in breeding programmes in order to produce resistant cultivars for the benefit of farmers.