Assessment of groundnut pre-breeding material for resistance to Spodoptera litura and productivitytraits in northern transitional zone of Karnataka

Abstract

Spodoptera litura, an important insect pest of groundnut causes yield loss up to 71% in India. Among the variousmanagement strategies, host plant resistance is the most desirable, economic and eco-friendly. In the present study, a set ofpre-breeding genotypes (29), parents (2), checks (7) and advanced breeding lines (2) were assessed for their reaction toSpodoptera litura under hot spot location, Dharwad during rainy season. Heritable component of variation existed forresistance to Spodoptera in groundnut pre-breeding genotypes indicating scope for selection of Spodoptera resistantgenotypes. Non-significant correlation between Spodoptera litura damage and pod yield per plant indicates availability ofpre-breeding genotypes resistant to Spodoptera litura with high yield. Among the 29 pre-breeding genotypes, only threegenotypes, ICGIL 17101, ICGIL 17107 and ICGIL 17111 showed less than 10 per cent leaf damage due to S. lituracompared to resistant check ICG 2271 (16.0 % leaf damage). Among these, ICGIL 17101 recorded higher pod yield perplant (28.6 g) when compared to resistant checks, ICGV 86031 (21.4 g) and ICG 2271 (19.8 g) and could serve as potentialdonor for incorporation of Spodoptera resistance in groundnut.