Online First Article Susceptibility Evaluation of Different Legume Seed Genotypes against Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) under Laboratory Conditions Muhammad Faizan 1 , Muhammad Nasir 1 , Muhammad Waqar Hassan 1 *, Ghulam Sarwar 2 and Moazzam Jamil 3 1 Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur-63100, Pakistan 2 Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur 3 Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur-63100, Pakistan Muhammad Faizan and Muhammad Nasir contributed equally to this work. Article Information Received 29 June 2022 Revised 18 July 2022 Accepted 01 August 2022 Available online 30 September 2022 (early access) Authors’ Contribution MF and MN conducted research. MWH is research supervisor, conceived research plan and wrote paper. GS performed analysis. MJ critically reviewed paper. Key words Seed beetles, Screening, Resistance, Pest management, Stored grain insect pests, Cowpea weevil A study was conducted to assess the susceptibility of three different legumes types namely cow pea (host variety), mung bean (BRM-028, BRM-102 and BRM-106) and chickpea (BWP-white, Sadiq-2021 and Bittle-21) against the seed weevil Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) under laboratory conditions. Biology of beetles was assessed in the form of growth index (GI) which showed maximum GI values in cowpea and mung bean varieties and least in chick pea genotypes and because of this cowpea and mung bean genotypes were classifed in susceptible category and chickpea varieties were classifed in resistant category. Percent weight loss by C. maculatus was maximum in cow pea and mung bean genotypes and least percent weight loss was recorded in chickpea genotypes. Maximum eggs were laid on mung bean varieties, one chickpea genotype (Bitttle-16) followed by in cowpea in descending order and least eggs were laid in two chickpea varieties (Sadiq-21 and BWP-white). Study of factors which could affect egg output of C. maculatus included seed coat color, texture and see size and among which beetles laid more eggs due to dark color of seeds while there was no strong effect of seed texture and seed size on egg output by C. maculatus. Study of other factors included seed hardness which was maximum in chickpea genotypes followed by cowpea in descending order and least seed hardness was in mung bean genotypes. Correlation of factors with growth index, percent weight loss and mature insect exit hole showed seed hardness was negatively correlated with growth index, percent weight loss and mature insect exit hole area. Percent weight loss was positively correlated with growth index and exit hole area of beetles. Study of factors affecting egg output, growth index, percent weight loss and overall susceptibility in different legume seed types indicate the importance of seed coat color and seed hardness which should be given due care in legume seeds breeding programs for resistance development in new varieties against pulse beetles. INTRODUCTION P ulses play a signifcant role to address food security and climate change challenges by providing proteins * Corresponding author: waqar.hassan@iub.edu.pk, waqar_722@ yahoo.com 0030-9923/2022/0001-0001 $ 9.00/0 Copyright 2022 by the authors. Licensee Zoological Society of Pakistan. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). and lysine to complement cereals in human food, by contributing to diversifed crop rotations, and by fxing nitrogen in the soil and thus reducing the use of fertilizers and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Therefore, pulses improve food security while these help to mitigate the effects of climate change. In this connection, 68 th UN General Assembly declared 2016 the International Year of Pulses (IYP) (Calles et al., 2019). In Pakistan, pulses production is much less than the requirement and the balance is maintained through imports. The reasons for low production and less yield of pulses comprise absence of innovative crop improvement programs and seed distribution system. At present, about 80% of the pulses are cultivated from the farmers own saved seed. Other key factors responsible for low production and less yield are ABSTRACT Pakistan J. Zool., pp 1-9, 2022. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.17582/journal.pjz/20220629190659