Morphological and Biochemical Traits Associated with Resistance to POD Fly, Melanagromyza Obtusa (Malloch) in Pigeonpea.

ABSTRACT

Pod fly, Melanagromyza obtusa is an important emerging pest and a major constraint to increase the production and productivity of pigeonpea. The concealed mode of life of pod fly within the pod makes it difficult to control. Hence, host plant resistance is an important tool for the management of this pest. Therefore, a set of forty genotypes were screened for resistance to pod fly under field conditions and characterized for morphological and biochemical traits in the pods. The correlation studies revealed that, among morphological and biochemical constituents of pigeonpea, pod length (r=0.389*), pod width (r=0.380*), protein content (r=0.857**), total carbohydrates (r=0.782**), reducing sugars (r=0.848**) and total free amino acids (r=0.832**) in the pod walls were positively correlated with per cent pod damage, whereas pod wall thickness (r= -0.762**), trichome density (r= -0.745**) and phenol content (r= -0.871**) had significant negative correlation with pod fly damage. Therefore, these traits can be used as phenotypic and biochemical markers to identify pigeonpea genotypes with resistance to M. obtusa, and use in pod fly resistance breeding program.