Screening of Black Gram (Vigna mungo) and its Crop Wild Relatives against Callosobruchus maculatus (Fab.) and Correlation of Resistance with Seed Physical Parameters

Black gram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper] a potential grain legume is greatly aff ected by bruchid infestation in production and post-harvest storage. Moreover, there is dearth of natural and reliable sources of bruchid resistance in cultivated black gram. Therefore, a set of 69 germplasm accessions, representing landraces of black gram and its crop wild relatives (CWR) were assessed for resistance against Callosobruchus maculatus (Fab.). Accession IC259504 (V. vexillata) showed complete resistance whereas IC424616 (V. mungo) was highly resistant to bruchid infestation based on the three key growth traits viz., adult emergence (AE), per cent seed weight loss (PSWL) and growth index (GI). Correlation heat matrix indicated AE was positively correlated with GI (r= 0.80) and PSWL (r= 0.72). Seed hardness showed a significant negative correlation with AE (r= -0.38). The resistant accessions could be utilized in various breeding programs for the development of bruchid resistant cultivars in black gram and its other related Vigna species.