Biological activity of pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) influenced by chickpea genotypes

Investigations on biological activities of pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) on 20 promising chickpea genotypes using detached leaf assay method at Agriculture Research Station Kalaburagi, UAS, Raichur, Karnataka was carried out during rabi 2016–17. The results revealed that at vegetative and flowering stage there was significantly lesser larval survival (70 to 76.67%), larval weight (8.37 to 8.90 mg) and damage rate (3.67 to 4.67 of visual Rating in 1–9 Scale) on resistant check ICCL 86111, HC-1 and DBGV-3104 genotypes where as maximum per cent larval survival (86.67 to 90%), larval weight (13.60 to 14.10 mg) and damage rate (7.67 to 8.00 of visual Rating in 1–9 Scale) was recorded in susceptible checks (ICC-3137, A-1 and JG-11). During pod formation stage, highest weight gain by larvae was noticed on susceptible check ICC-3137 (409.18 mg), on the contrary lowest weight gain by larvae was found on resistant check ICCL-86111 (275.43 mg) also these genotypes recorded more amount of malic acid and trichomes indicating that biological activity of insect was affected through antibiosis mechanism which is one of the component of resistance to H. armigera in chickpea.