Physicochemical Traits of Pigeonpea Genotypes and Resistance to Pod Fly Melanagromyza Obtusa (Malloch)

Resistance to the pod fly in 15 long duration pigeonpea genotypes is evaluated in this study done during kharif 2017–18 and 2018–19. Also, the variability in their physicochemical traits (pod length, pod width, number of grains per pod, pod wall thickness, trichome density, carbohydrate, protein, reducing sugars, phenol, and chlorophyll) has been studied. The results revealed that the pod length showed a positive correlation, whereas pod wall thickness and trichome density showed negative correlation with pod fly damage. The genotypes IVT-706, IVT-705 and IVT-208 showed less damage because of these. The genotypes having more protein, reducing sugar and carbohydrates were found to be more prone. Phenol content was negatively correlated with damage (r = -0.618). Overall, the genotypes IVT-705, IVT-706 and IVT-12-904 were found to be least susceptible to pod fly damage.