Screening of fodder cowpea germplasm against pod borers

MEGHA .; N. S. KULKARNI; K. SRIDHAR; R. CHANNAKESHAVA

doi:10.61475/JFS.2025.v38i4.21

MEGHA . Department of Entomology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad - 580 005, India
N. S. KULKARNI Department of Entomology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad - 580 005, India
K. SRIDHAR 2Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, Dharwad - 580 005, India
R. CHANNAKESHAVA Department of Entomology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad - 580 005, India

DOI: https://doi.org/10.61475/JFS.2025.v38i4.21

Keywords: Cowpea, Fodder germplasm, ICAR–IGFRI, Maruca vitrata, Pod borer, Resistance screening

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2024 at ICAR–Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute(IGFRI), Southern Regional Research Station, Dharwad, to evaluate 150 fodder cowpea (Vigna unguiculata [L.] Walp.)germplasm lines along with five checks for resistance against pod borers under natural field conditions. Pod damage wasassessed using the visual rating scale of Jackai and Singh (1982). The results revealed significant variation among germplasmlines, with pod damage ranging from 23.47 to 79.67%. Based on the extent of damage, 26 lines were categorized asmoderately resistant (21-40% damage), 87 as intermediate (41-60%) and 37 as susceptible (61-80%), while no line exhibitedcomplete resistance (0-20%). The study identified FC125, FC39, FC8, FC141 and FC142 as promising entries with lowerpod damage. These findings provide valuable insights for identifying resistance sources and can be utilized in breedingprograms aimed at developing pod borer-resistant fodder cowpea varieties.