Field screening of chickpea genotypes against gram pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera

Fourteen chickpea varieties were studied for the effect of morphological characters viz., number of primary branches, number of pods per plant and days to maturity on larval population of H. armigera. The larval population varied significantly from one another among the genotypes with lowest in PG-296 (0.94 larvae/meter row length) and highest larval load was recorded in PG-266 (2.94 larvae/meter row length). It was found that the number of primary branches was non-significant and correlated positively with pod per cent damage (r = 0.103) while other morphological parameters like number of pods and days to maturity were non-significant and negatively correlated with pod per cent damage (r = -0.016 and r = -2.66, respectively).Result revealed that the chickpea genotypes PG-296 and PG-271 recorded minimum larval population, lower pod damage per cent and higher yield (kg/plot) with adequate morphological traits.