
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an important grain legume in Asia, East Africa, the Mediterranean, Australia, and North America. Chickpea productivity is constrained by several biotic and abiotic stresses, of which Helocoverpa armigera is the most devastating pest worldwide (Sharma 2005). Low to moderate levels of resistance have been identified in the cultivated germplasm, but high levels of resistance have been observed in the wild relatives of chickpea (Sharma et al., 2005a,b). To increase levels and diversify the basis of resistance to H. armigera, it is important to evaluate the wild relatives to identify accessions with different mechanisms of resistance to this pest.