~ 1128 ~ Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2018; 6(2): 1128-1130 E-ISSN: 2320-7078 P-ISSN: 2349-6800 JEZS 2018; 6(2): 1128-1130 © 2018 JEZS Received: 15-01-2018 Accepted: 16-02-2018 S Ramesh Babu Assistant Professor (Entomology), Agricultural Research Station, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology (MPUAT), Borwat Farm, Banswara, Rajasthan, India DP Saini Professor (Plant Breeding & Genetics), Agricultural Research Station, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology (MPUAT), Borwat Farm, Banswara, Rajasthan, India Ramgopal Dudwal Senior Research Fellow, Division of Entomology, Pesticide Residue, Rajasthan, Agricultural Research Institution (RARI), Durgapura, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India Prahlad Kumar Meena Senior Research Fellow (RKVY project), Agricultural Research Station, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology (MPUAT), Borwat Farm, Banswara, Rajasthan, India Correspondence S Ramesh Babu Assistant Professor (Entomology), Agricultural Research Station, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology (MPUAT), Borwat Farm, Banswara, Rajasthan, India Estimation of avoidable losses in chickpea by pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) in Southern Rajasthan S Ramesh Babu, DP Saini, Ramgopal Dudwal and Prahlad Kumar Meena Abstract An experiment was conducted during two rabi crop seasons from 2015‐2016 to 2016‐2017 at Agricultural Research Station, MPUAT, Banswara. The objective was to estimate avoidable losses in seed yield of chickpea on four chickpea varieties viz., Pratap Channa-1, Dahod Yellow, GNG-1581 and JAKI-9218. Results showed that in both the seasons, significant difference was observed in the pod borer damage of H. armigera between unprotected and protected conditions. The maximum pod borer damage percentage was recorded in JAKI 9218 variety, while minimum damage was in Pratap channa-1 under unprotected conditions. In 2016-17, under protected condition all the chickpea varieties were free from pod damage due to H. armigera. The maximum yield loss (25.07%) in JAKI-9218 corresponded with the high pod borer damage percentage of 27.77 under unprotected conditions, in 2015-2016. Similarly, the low yield loss (5.37%) in chickpea variety, Dahod yellow corresponded with the low pod borer damage percentage (6.66). Keywords: chickpea, Helicoverpa armigera, yield loss, dahod yellow 1. Introduction Chickpea, (Cicer arietinum L.) is an important pulse crop of India and is also known as Bengal gram and Gram. Its seed contains about 17-20% of protein. In India, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are the major chickpea producing states contributing 87 percentage of the total production [1] . The area of about 8.35 million hectares with a production of 7.17 million tonnes and productivity of 859 kg per hectare during Rabi-2015- 2016 under chickpea in the country [2] . In Rajasthan, this crop is cultivated in about 0.94 million hectares area with the production of 0.80 million tonnes and an average productivity of 852 kg per hectare [3] . About 60 insect species are known to feed on chickpea of which cutworm, Agrotis ipsilon, leaf caterpillar, Spodoptera exigua and pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera are the important and area specific pests in India. Helicoverpa armigera are the major pests in the zone and causing significant losses in chickpea. It begins their feeding at the seedling stage and feeds on the leaves by scrapping green tissue and pods and later infests on the buds, flowers and developing pods until the crop maturity. The typical symptom shows circular bore holes on gram pods plugged by the head of a larva. Biradar et al, [4] estimated of about 55.70% avoidable losses in chickpea due to H.armigera. Due to its polyphagous, high fecundity and migratory nature and its resistance to the various group of insecticides led to the damage of 90-95% in chickpea and yield losses of 400 kg/ha with the damage to pods ranging from 30-40% to 90- 95% [5, 6] . The pest infestation varies depends on the agro-climatic conditions prevailed in the zone and to need to generate location specific information on damage by H. armigera. Thus, there is a need to estimate crop damage due to H. armigera in different chickpea varieties. Keeping in view, the present work was formulated to study the infestation of H. armigera in different varieties of chickpea to generate location specify information on the damage and to identify the chickpea varieties that suffer the minimum damage due to H. armigera. 2. Materials and Methods The study was conducted during two rabi crop seasons from 2015-16 to 2016-17 at Agricultural Research Station, Borwat Farm (MPUAT, Udaipur), Banswara, Rajasthan, India. The assessment of avoidable losses in seed yield of chickpea were done on four major