Pigeonpea Research Paper

Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] is a perennial legume from the family Fabaceae. It is known by various names, such as red gram and cognomen (English), tur and arhar (Hindi), it is also known by more than 350 dialect names, and is grown primarily as a food crop. Since its domestication in India at least 3,500 years ago, its seeds became a common food grain in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The crop ranks fourth in importance as edible legume in the world. It is the second most important pulse crop after chickpea in India (Das et al., 2015). It is cultivated in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world on almost 4.8 million hectares worldwide covering 22 countries of Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. India has virtual monopoly in pigeonpea
It is a rich source of protein and supplies a major share of the protein requirement of the vegetarian population of the country. Pigeonpea is mainly grown as marginal or a component of mixed cropping system in cotton, sorghum and soybean, receiving less attention of farmers (Sharma et al., 2011). Pigeonpea is rich in starch, protein, calcium, manganese, crude fiber, fat, trace elements, and minerals. Besides its high nutritional value, pigeonpea is also used as traditional folk medicine in India, China, Philippines and some other nations, (Saxena et al., 2010). Pigeonpea is a good source of protein, vitamins (A, C, B complex), minerals (Ca, Fe, Zn, Cu), carbohydrates and dietary fibre in comparison to green peas (Pisum sativum), the vegetable pigeonpea has five times more beta carotene content, three times more thiamine, riboflvin and niacin content and double vitamin ‘C’ content (Saxena et al.
Tur pod fly, M. obtusa is the major insect pest of long duration pigeon pea, especially in north and central India (Meena et al., 2010). The concealed mode of life of pod fly within the pod (Subharani and Singh, 2009) makes it difficult to control, with chemical insecticides. Therefore, host-plant resistance is an important tool for management of this pest (Jaisal et al. 2010). Pod fly causes damage to the extent of 24.6% from the pod filling to pod maturity stage particularly on late maturing varieties (Shanower et al., 1998; Kumar and Nath, 2002). In a survey conducted by ICRISAT, Melanagromyza obtusa (Malloch) was reported to damage 22.5 per cent pigeon pea pods in north India, 21 per cent in central India and 13.2 per cent in South India, where as the pod borer damage was reported to be 29.7 per cent in North-West Zone, 13.2 per cent in North Zone 24.3 per cent in Central Zone and 36.4 per cent in South Zone. The annual loss of pigeon pea production due to pod fly alone has been estimated to the extent of 25 to 30 per cent in U.P. (Lal et al.,