| Summary: | Pulses are a key source of dietary proteins in human nutrition. Despite several efforts to increase the production, various constraints, such as biotic and abiotic factors, threaten pulse production by various means. Bruchids (<i>Callosobruchus</i> spp.) are the serious issue of concern, particularly in storage conditions. Understanding host–plant resistance at morphological, biochemical and molecular levels is the best way to minimize yield losses. The 117 mungbean (<i>Vigna radiata</i> L. Wilczek) genotypes, including endemic wild relatives, were screened for resistance against <i>Callosobruchus chinensis</i>; among them, two genotypes, PRR 2008-2 and PRR 2008-2-sel, which belong to <i>V. umbellata</i> (Thumb.), were identified as highly resistant. The expression of antioxidants in susceptible and resistant genotypes revealed that the activity of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) was upregulated in the highly resistant wild <i>Vigna</i> species and lower in the cultivated susceptible genotypes, along with other biomarkers. Further, the SCoT-based genotyping revealed SCoT-30 (200 bp), SCoT-31 (1200 bp) and SCoT-32 (300 bp) as unique amplicons, which might be useful for developing the novel ricebean-based SCAR markers to accelerate the molecular breeding programme.
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