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Black gram (Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper) is one of the most important pulse crops in daily diets. However, black gram production and post-harvest preservation are still tedious due to the losses caused by the storage pest bruchine, Callosobruchus maculatus (F.), both quantitatively and qualitatively.   Hence, the present study involves the utilization of the multivariate analysis by effectively understanding variation among the genotypes based on their level of bruchine infestation. The multivariate studies indicated that the traits viz., the total number of adult emergence (AE), seed damage % (SD) and seed weight loss % (SWL) had more variation and with more significant correlation among them.  Also, these traits are the most influential principal component traits governing 88% of the variation among genotypes. The divergence analysis showed that the genotype TU 68 found in cluster II would have the potential to create the variation for bruchine infestation among the black gram genotypes involved in the study.  As it has scored lesser adult emergence (AE) (7 adults), seed damage % (SD) (14 %) and seed weight loss % (SWL) (17.79 %)  than the other genotypes. It shows the resistant nature of the genotype against bruchine beetles. Hence, TU 68 could be utilized in the future hybridization programme as a donor for bruchine resistance.

Storage pest bruchine is a major production limiting factor in blackgram. The present study was employed in a bi‐parental mapping population derived from a cross between susceptible (MDU 1) and resistant (TU68) genotypes. Phenotyping was carried out under an artificial bruchine screening procedure. QTL studies revealed three major QTLs responsible for the total number of adult emergence, percentage of seed damage and developmental time. The validation of identified QTLs was carried out on other mapping populations, namely, VBN 6 × TU 68 and VBN 8 × TU 68 through single marker analysis. It revealed that markers CEDG020 and CEDG302 can be used in the future bruchine resistance breeding programme. Genome mining on the QTL regions harbours several possible candidate genes related to defence response against herbivory insects, namely, serine/threonine protein kinase proteins, zinc finger family proteins, F‐box proteins, leucine‐rich repeats regions and some transcription factors and enzymes. The outcome of this study will be useful for bruchine resistance breeding programme.

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