Conventional and Molecular Approaches towards Genetic Improvement in Pigeonpea for Insects Resistance.docVIP

American Journal of Plant Sciences, 2013, 4, 372-385 /10.4236/ajps.2013.42A049 Published Online February 2013 (/journal/ajps) Conventional and Molecular Approaches towards Genetic Improvement in Pigeonpea for Insects Resistance Arbind K. Choudhary , Ranjeet Sharad Raje 1 2 , Subhojit Datta 3 , Rafat Sultana 4 , Timmanna Ontagodi 5 1 Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Regional Research Station Cum Offseason Nursery, Dharwad, India; 2 Division of Genetics, Department of Plant 5 Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, University of Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India; Breeding and Genetics, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, India; Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, India. 3 Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur, India; 4 Email: akiipr23@ Received December 18 , 2012; revised January 20 , 2013; accepted January 28 , 2013 th th th ABSTRACT Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh] is an important food legume of the semi-arid tropics (SAT) sustaining live- lihood of millions of people. Stagnant and unstable yield per hectare all over the world is the characteristic feature of this crop. This is primarily ascribed to its susceptibility/sensitivity to a number of biotic and abiotic factors. Among biotic factors, insects such as pod borer (Helicoverpa armigera), pod fly (Melanoagromyza obtusa) and spotted borer (Maruca vitrata) substantially damage the crop and result in significant economic losses. Management of these insects by genetic means has always been considered environment friendly approach. However, genetic improvement has al- ways been impeded by limited genetic variability in the primary gene pool of pigeonpea. Wild species present in the secondary and tertiary gene pools have been re